Side by side: Pair of used bookstores open up

Two used bookstores have opened in downtown Portland since May, but both owners said they aren’t concerned about competition with their next-door neighbor because of the nature of their businesses.
Cat Tales, which opened May 5, and Elsinore Books, which opened June 10, sit right next door to each other on Meridian Street.
Tara Drumm, the manager of Cat Tales, said because all the books she sells are donated, she won’t have the same inventory as Elsinore Books.
“(Elsinore Books will) have totally different things,” Drumm said. “We can send people back and forth if we don’t have what they need.”
Cat Tales is a non-profit business, with all of the proceeds going to Midwest Pet Refuge, a local organization that places animals in foster and adoptive homes.
Drumm is the president of Midwest Pet Refuge, and said the bookstore provides a face for the organization and a way to find homes for some of its animals. Several cats wander the store and are available for adoption.
“We thought this way we could get the message out about our rescue and also help some cats get some homes, and then the books, it’s another passion of mine and it will help pay the bills,” Drumm said. “We did not have a location before, and that helps having this, because now we can actually have a physical address that people can come see us at.”
Drumm had the idea for Cat Tales last winter, and after researching and looking at locations, she and the Midwest Pet Refuge board decided to move forward with the business.
After signing the lease in March, Drumm said it was full speed ahead to get the bookstore open in May.
Cara Macdonald, co-owner and manager of Elsinore Books, also started planning her business in the last year.
Macdonald said she was a little worried at first about competing with her neighbor, but since meeting Drumm she doesn’t think there will be any problems.
“There was a little bit of panic when I discovered that they were moving in, but they’re lovely people and we’re not going to have the same inventory since we’re both used bookstores,” Macdonald said.
“I just see it being another draw for people, so if they go next door, they’ll come here and vice-versa.”
Macdonald said her goal for Elsinore Books is to be a place for people to gather. Downtown Portland needed a bookstore, she said, and her business fills that void.
“We’re going to be a place to just kind of hang out and have coffee so we’re kind of hoping to get people to come in and read while they’re sitting here,” Macdonald said.
Drumm and Macdonald said their stores are mainly selling books for now, but both said they’d consider expanding their inventory down the road.