One Bookstore, 3 Sisters and 100 Years

Here's a place I'd like to visit: Argosy Book Store in Midtown Manhattan celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Surrounded by skyscrapers, it's run by three sisters (90, 88 and 84 years old, respectively). Already a couple of decades under their belt, they took over from their father in 1991.

The sisters still go on book-buying trips around the city by cab, sometimes several times a day. Back at the shop, they spread the books over a broad, green table in the middle of the main browsing area on the first floor, just as their father taught them to do. They assess, catalog and shelve their finds, in between assisting customers.

On retiring, Ms. Cohen (84) says:

I’d like to, too, but working here is really interesting,” she said. “Every day, you don’t know who is going to walk in the door or what books are going to come in.

Book stores are fantastic places. Every day presents a chance to make someone's day, and I dream of having one of my own, sometime.