A new chapter dawns for the decades-old Somerset West Paperback Book Exchange.
The beloved community gem tucked away in Fountain Square, which is located amid the hustle and bustle of the central business district, has been sold and will be operated under new ownership from a different premises come April.
However, news of the bookshop’s sale and new location also prompted a visit from DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette to 87-year-old Arleen Seyfried, whose name had become synonymous with a resource she had proudly nurtured for 51 years and as a legacy felt compelled to hand over with a twinge of regret mixed with sadness.
“I have dedicated the past 51 years to this shop and loved every moment of it. I enjoy books and love my customers, who have been so faithful over the years. I have one in particular, Pixie Cowley, who has come to this bookshop since before I came, and she still comes. What can I say – wonderful people and wonderful shop.”
Now the end of an era has come. Seyfried’s journey with the bookshop began in 1972 when she initially bought into a partnership with then owners Enid and Sam Odendaal from Strand, who had the business for about a year at the time.
“I used to frequent the bookshop with my six-year-old son,” she recalled. “We’d get comics for him and Mills & Boons, the women’s romance novels, for myself.”
By then Seyfried had already lost her husband to kidney cancer at the young age of 39. They had married in 1964 and welcomed their son the following year. He was just a year old when he lost his father. Seyfried focused on raising their son and never remarried. So when opportunity knocked she gave up her job as salesperson for the Gallo record company and went into business with the Odendaals, who had retired from the mines in the Free State. They ceded their part of the partnership after 12 years to their daughter-in-law, Anna Odendaal. She and Seyfried worked as co-owners for 24 years before she died of cancer at age 56. The latter held the fort alone for 16 years, “with no holiday and never a Saturday morning off, just business as per usual from Monday to Friday.”
Seyfried said the only time the store was closed for business was when the Covid-pandemic lockdowns hit back in 2020. But two weeks into the initial lockdown Seyfried would hook-up with customers desperate for a good read by quick meet-ups in the parking area.
Seyfried explained the shop has operated on the system that allows customers to bring in their books for a price and help themselves to books within the amount, or pay the difference should the total exceed it. And once they had read the books they could bring it back and receive half its worth back in exchange credit again.
The bookseller reckoned buying into the store had been the biggest highlight, allowing her to focus on her passion for pure enjoyment and affording her a good life as well as earning her some savings for her golden years. “It just all worked out,” she said.
Asked what she’d miss most when no longer part of the bookshop, Seyfried replied: “My customers, getting nice new books in and, well, just being in the shop.”
For the past five decades the shop has been a quiet, cosy and welcoming bookworm’s delight. It boasts endless rows of good reads, even stacked on the floor. Apart from the reading pleasure, there’s the mere whiff of books that hits you at the entrance, a rather visceral indication of where you are. The bookshop stocks mainly novels, including thillers and romance novels, and some non-fiction. Seyfried’s favourite author is Nora Roberts, as she likes “a little romance coupled with some intrigue and a happy ending.”
Come 31 March and she will have to have vacated the current premises. “It will be one of the saddest days of my life,” she declared.
This weekend she will put her shoulder to the wheel to assist the new owners, who have hired professional help with the move, considered a great task as the countless books in every nook and cranny will have to be carted by hand.
Seyfried will also help the new owners find their feet by offering her temporary assistance in the store from 10:30 to 12:30 on certain days. The bookshop will retain its name and simply move a few doors up to the new premises, which boasts a big glass facade facing Main Road.
New co-owner Vaughan Pain, with his partner, snatched-up the bookshop he had been frequenting for nearly 20 years, in his case as an avid Jeffrey Archer reader, at the start of the month. This after Seyfried’s granddaughter-in-law had advertised the bookshop online and received a great response, including from Pain, who popped into the store specifically on Fridays with a sweet treat for the much-loved owner. Asked about his hopes for the bookshop, he responded: “We hope to keep things the same for this marks the end of an era that cannot be recaptured, and we simply have Arleen’s legacy to build on.”
Seyfried extended a “heartfelt” thank you to all her customers for their continued support over the years.
