Meet Jim James of Park Street Books and Toys

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim James.

Jim, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was a preschool teacher and started the store as a part-time labor of love 15 years ago. The store has grown quite a bit since then. We have been in three locations and have moved as we have outgrown each one. We never expected it to get to where it is today and we are excited about the future.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have had lots of struggles and will continue to have more. A lot of people thought e-books would replace physical books, but we believe in the real book and have stuck with it, even increasing our inventory. E-books peaked in 2012 and now are less than 15% of books and dropping.

Amazon is putting pressure on brick and mortar stores and many big box stores have closed or are closing (currently, Toys R Us). We see it as a challenge but believe many people still want to support local stores that do so much in their communities … from hiring local people to paying local taxes to donate to local causes and schools. We don’t think an algorithm should tell you what to read or what to play with.

A current struggle that I see is Amazon Smile, in which Amazon gives one half of one percent (that is a nickel on a $10 purchase) back to an organization. Many people see this as benevolent and feel that if they are spending the money anyway, they may as well join. Many times, this is a purchase that could have been made at a local store that gives far more than one half of one percent back. It is particularly troubling to see this happen at schools, knowing that Amazon fought the States for years to not collect sales tax, much of which goes to schools.

Please tell us about Park Street Books and Toys.
We are a children’s book and toy store with over 200,000 books in stock. We have a wide variety of new and used books to appeal to a wide range of readers. We have many educational toys in the store and we are price competitive with online and the big box stores. We are proud of our employees. We have an amazing, dedicated staff that loves helping people find the right book or toy. We know many of our customers by name and we are consistently growing our customer base. Teachers and parents come from all over New England to shop with us for books.

We also have a paint your own pottery studio, with drop-ins and parties always welcome. Patti Allan holds amazing canvas painting classes, parties and events in the studio. We are currently looking for a second location or a larger location but will be patient until we find the right one.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
When I was little, we lived with my grandparents in Liverpool, England. There was a toy store on our road and my grandmother used to take us every week to pick out Matchbox cars (they were actually in little matchboxes back then). I still think about those great memories when I am in the store and a parent or grandparent brings their child in to pick out special toys, including Matchbox cars. Books and toys are so important to children and leave lasting impressions. So much learning comes through play.

Contact Info:

• Address: 504 Main Street Medfield, MA 02052
• Website: www.parkstreetbooks.com
• Phone: 508-242-3083
• Email: jim@parkstreetbooks.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/ParkStreetBooks/about

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