What happens when a young pastor facing a career pivot lives near a town that lost its only bookstore during the pandemic? That’s what happened for Justin and Crystal Bessler. They came to the Marion, Ohio area to start a church. But they had different ideas of what that should look like from their supporting denomination. That left Justin without a job at about the same time Marion, Ohio, about an hour north of Columbus, lost its only bookstore. The nearest store was in Delaware, about a half hour south. The only other alternatives were the bestsellers at Meijer or the impersonal online sellers.
It was the chance to act on a lifelong love of books and a dream of operating a retail store. The dream became a reality in May of 2023 when Justin and Crystal opened Birch Tree Bookery. He describes their driving passion as one of “gathering a community of booklovers in what was once a town without a bookstore.” They offer the personalized service to find that special book.
I saw that in action when we were interrupted by a customer from out of town, visiting with family. She was looking for a particular short story of John Steinbeck’s. He took me back to a store room where we looked together for a book that might include the story. No such luck. So Justin offered to search online for the book and found it and offered to order it and even ship it to her. She placed the order while other family members also purchased books.
He believes there are many people who don’t just look for a product but an experience. That means walking over to help a customer searching shelves to find out what they are looking for and either hand them the book or something similar they might like. And it involves working with publishers to host book events when an awaited title comes out. Not only that, Justin sees his store as a way to feature local authors. And they host book groups in a room in a separate room of the store.
So let me walk you through the store.
The store is located in a commercial strip. There is ample parking in front of the modest entrance. Walk through the doors and you enter this little alcove.
Off to the right is a children’s section where you can drop off the kiddies to look at books while you browse the main rooms.
Passing through the alcove, you enter the non-fiction and new titles section, including the sales counter.
But if it is fiction you are looking for, you can enter the fiction room through doorways on either side of the wall with new titles.
This is the only good image I have of the fiction section. There are also classic and literary fiction, poetry, and drama, as well as historical fiction and westerns.
You might be wondering about the name. “Birch Tree” comes from Robert Frost’s A Swinger of Birches, one of Justin’s favorite Frost poems. They also have three birches at their home. Birch trees are also the first to come back after a destructive event and the name represents a new start for a bookstore in Marion after the pandemic. And “Bookery.” There’s some whimsy here. A town may have a bakery. Why not a bookery?
And the future? This is their second location. Already, they are making plans to move to a larger location in Marion. While presently stocking lots of used books (and they do buy books), they would like to move from a 90/10 to 50/50 ratio of used to new books, curating their stock carefully to the interests of book buyers in Marion and neighboring communities.
Birch Tree Bookery is one of the only physical bookstores in north central Ohio and the only one in Marion. Marion is intersected by US 23, connecting Columbus and Toledo, and State Routes 309 and 95, connecting with communities east and west of Marion.
Here’s their contact information:
Address: 605 E Center St, Suite B Marion, OH 43302
Phone: (740) 262-3312
Email: birchtreebookery@gmail.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/birchtreebookery/
Website: BirchTreeBookery.com
Current Hours: Closed Sunday and Monday, Tuesday-Friday 12-6 pm. Saturday 10 am-3 pm
