Local shop finds niche

Bloomington has always been known as a scholarly town with a range of stores that suit the atmosphere. Caveat Emptor, 112 N. Walnut St., has been such a store for more than 30 years. \nCaveat Emptor specializes in used and rare books and has found a niche in Bloomington buying and selling old books. \nThe store's name is Latin for "buyer beware" and was adopted in the early 1960s. \n"Thirty years ago, the name seemed like a good idea… now that we are known all over Indiana, it seems rather foolish to change to some thing more dignified," Janis Starcs, the store's manager and a partner, said. \nStarcs, who arrived in Bloomington as a freshman at IU 36 years ago, founded the store with three other partners in the 1960s. \nThe store has moved three times before finding its current location in the downtown square opposite the Monroe County Courthouse. \nCaveat Emptor is an independent bookstore with none of the hard sells that the bigger chain bookstores carry, such as coffee shops, sofas to lounge on and discounted bestsellers.\n The books are stacked on shelves throughout the width and breadth of the store, sometimes nine shelves high. \nStarcs is an avid classical music listener, so there is always music playing in the store. \nCaveat Emptor has not changed much since it was first founded, even with the rush of other booksellers to make themselves viable in the new e-commerce economy, Starcs said. \n The store does not have a Web site and does not plan on getting one in the near future, Starcs said. It is a simply run operation with only one full-time employee and two part-time employees.\n The books are arranged by genres such as African-American literature, African literature, modern literature and 17th, 18th, 19th century literature.\nThe store's largest customer base consists of IU faculty and students. \n"Most of my customers are students," Starcs said. "I couldn't have all this literature in other languages or the scientific books if it wasn't for the University."\nThe store does have regular customers who have browsed and shopped there year after year, Starcs said.\nCaveat Emptor does have a niche cantering to customers selling books that are out of print and not available at other bookstores. \nJane Rae Dillon, a buyer for the IU Bookstore, said she visits Starcs' store to "look for older hardback biographies and exotic language dictionaries... or if I want a hardback that is already in print as a paperback, such as a book by Hemingway"