Welcome (back) to Book Smarts, a semi-regular series profiling Chicago's bookstores and their owners. We began the series way back in 2020...then the pandemic happened. As bookstores closed, the series fell by the wayside. Consider this Book Smarts' triumphant return with Binx Perino's portrait of the Armadillo's Pillow (6753 North Sheridan Road).—Dan Kelly, Lit Editor
Being a north-side resident, I'm thrilled by the opportunity to find local gems. More specifically, the opportunity to find incredible bookstores like the Armadillo's Pillow in Rogers Park. This quaint and established space has seen hundreds of Northwestern and Loyola students over the decades, and has gained many loyal neighbors who bring in their books for trade. To get a better understanding of the shop's history and operations, I took the opportunity to speak with one of the shop's two owners.
Could you tell me your name and what you do at the Armadillo’s Pillow?
My name is Betsy Boemmel and I’m the owner here. My husband and I run the shop together.
Are you from Chicago?
Yeah, I’m from the Chicagoland area. My husband and I both grew up in the northwest suburbs.
How long has this bookstore been open?
Over 30 years.
Could you tell me the origin story of the Armadillo’s Pillow?
My husband and I both grew up in real book houses. We had community libraries we spent a lot of time in, as well as a used bookstore in our hometown. We were already familiar with these things and we were looking to start a small business with very little money. I mean, what can you do with the small amount of money we both started with?
We worked at a center for developmentally disabled adults for many years. We were dreaming of having our own business and asking ourselves how to get there. This was our answer. It was the kind of thing that, like most other businesses, you can’t see until you’re in it. This is a concrete business—it’s a used bookstore. We know about this, we care about used books, we have this drive to be surrounded by books. It ended up being a natural choice.
Did you buy this space as it is or renovate it?
We do rent, but we expanded the spaces. We opened the main front and back rooms in ‘93 and then, in 2000, we came into this room on the side. The renovating we had to do included putting a hole in the wall and also building out the space. There weren’t any shelves, we had to put those up ourselves.
Are all the books donated from the community or do they come from somewhere else?
No, very few of the books are donated. We buy books at a variety of locations. Anywhere anyone is selling books, I’m interested. People can also come in and trade books for books. We have a trade system where people can bring in used books and get store-credit for books here.
How many books do you think are in the shop?
I don’t know. I could guess, I think I have guessed before. We do have a number somewhere. Every shelf of books is equal to one box of books. And each of the boxes holds about 20 to 30 books. So whatever that is! There are so many books. Books are hard to sell. People don’t want the same thing. I can’t carry 20 books and then hope that people actually want all 20 of those books. Twenty people come in and maybe one of those people wants one of those books, but it’s a game of volume. The more you have, the more likely it is you’re going to have something someone is looking for.
Your other items that aren’t books—the jewelry and trinkets and things—are those locally sourced?
Yeah, so I make the jewelry. That was another reason to open this place, my husband and I make art. I wanted to be able to have a place where I can sell my art. It’s been amazing. The other ways that I could sell my art are things I don’t really want to do. I could be sitting in an art fair listening to people say, “Oh, this is nice!” Okay, I don’t care, I paid $400 for this table, you don’t want anything? So, this is easy and low pressure for me. My husband also has paintings up around the shop.
Does the bookstore host community events?
We are not a community space beyond our regular operations. Over these 30 years, we’ve had many different sorts of events. We don’t encourage events, though. People often ask if we have meetings, readings, something like that. We have done many of those things, but, in the end, we think it’s hard enough to be a bookstore. It’s not a business model that works for us. We had an open mic for a really long time. You’d think it’d be great for business, but it wasn’t. People aren’t looking at books during open mics, they’re looking at some other thing that’s happening. Also, people ask if they can do photoshoots here, like engagement photos or recording community films. Again, we don’t encourage it, but we often work things out for people. The other downside is that people flake out constantly. People will set dates to do things in the shop and then never show up. So we like to just sell books to people, that’s our agreement.
Are there any bookstores outside Chicago you really like or are inspired by?
I go to a bookstore literally everywhere I go. Some of them make me feel deeply, darkly envious. Some of them make me say, “Oh my God, look at what’s going on here!” But in Chicago, I almost never go to another bookstore. Out of town, there’s an amazing bookstore in Quincy, Illinois. Apparently, the Lincoln-Douglas debates are Quincy’s claim to fame. There is just the most beautiful, amazing jewel of a bookstore that I can’t remember the name of. It made me think, “I just need 40 more years and a lot of money.” It’s not a huge space, but it was just so beautiful. I mean, we’re just trying to sell books. If you’re trying to move things and you want the books to find a home, you can’t be selling books at too high a cost.
What kind of books do you like to read?
It’s hard to say because I feel like I’m an omnivore when it comes to books. It used to be that I would plan my book purchases, like most people; if I wanted to read something specific, I would go and buy that book. But, over the last 30 years, I feel like I’ve been fishing in a stream of books. I look at so many books every day—so many titles to sort, buy, and sell—that the books I read kind of come downstream to me. I see something interesting and I just read it. I guess, if I had to categorize it, I’m more of a fiction reader than anything else.
What do you think makes the Armadillo’s Pillow special?
We’re still a bookstore in Chicago. Unfortunately, that’s more special than it used to be. When we started 30 years ago, there were so many bookstores. Now, there are so few.
What do you think is most important about local, independent bookstores?
People just love their little bookstores. People will come in here and talk about how much they love this place. What I know is that wherever is someone’s favorite place, it’s a place that they really feel connected to. People just love their local bookstores! They get attached to the place, like their favorite restaurants or something. It’s their place and they keep going back. We really try hard not to tell anyone what to think or what to do, so it means a lot when people choose to come back and make this their own. The shop becomes part of their ritual.
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