WHITEHALL — He's only run his own store for a few months, but already Pat Armstrong is ready to upsize his business.
Armstrong,
who owns and operates Pat's Media Market in downtown Whitehall, will
soon move his store to the previous Healthy Pantry (now Healthy Roots)
location in the coming weeks, with a goal of an Oct. 2 opening. The
opening will include giveaways, drawings and other special events.
He
wryly noted that Healthy Roots is located next door to the hallway that
houses his store, so in a way, he and the health-food grocery are
swapping locations.
Armstrong works in the automotive
department at Walmart, but has had a dream of opening a used bookstore
going back to his days growing up in Anderson, Indiana in the east
central part of the state.
"There were two used bookstores that were within a block of
each other, and besides the library, I visited those quite a bit when I
was a kid," Armstrong said. "I always thought it'd be cool to have this."
While
Armstrong has "dabbled" in selling books online, a conversation with
his wife Stephanie one evening spurred him to pursue that dream, and his
store opened on Colby Street in Whitehall June 5. The majority of
Armstrong's wares are books, but he also sells DVDs, CDs and other
physical media - even planning to add VHS tapes.
Most of the
available fare are items Armstrong has purchased himself, but he does
accept donations of material others do not want anymore if they're in
good condition. He's been asked if he buys used books as well, although
due to the extremely low prices charged by the store, it's unlikely he'd
meet the asking price many have.
"I haven't decided what I'm going to do as far as a buy-sell-trade thing
yet," Armstrong said. "That will probably come in the future. I just haven't
decided how I'm going to do that yet."
Armstrong said business
was strong in both June and July before slowing down somewhat in
August, though some of that was because he and his wife went on a
week-long vacation during the month. His hours are somewhat irregular
right now as he works around his day job - the store is open Mondays
through Wednesdays from 5-9 p.m., Thursdays 9-5 and Saturdays from 5-9
p.m. - though once the move is complete, he plans to devote more time to
the store and be open full-time hours from Thursdays through Saturdays.
"Being
in the same shopping center, where the Aldi is going to
open, and right across from the Colby Cafe, hopefully we'll be able to
get a lot more walk-in, drive-by traffic," Armstrong said.
He
added that he's hoping to sell coffee in the near future and has friends
and acquaintances for whom he'll sell some artisanal items once he's in
the new storefront. On the media front, vinyl records is an area
Armstrong would like to get into.
Many of the additions will
take advantage of the new premises' added space. Right now his store is
tucked into the hallway of the downtown building and is only 200 square
feet, while the old Healthy Pantry location is four times that size.
Three months in, Armstrong's dream is showing no signs of slowing down, and he's excited for
"It's been very fun," Armstrong said. "I've really enjoyed
it."
