Best of Montana Moment: Montana Valley Book Store offers readers 100,000 choices

ALBERTON, Mont. — On books and reading, writer William Faulkner had this advice -- "Read, read, read."

"We read to know we are not alone," said writer C.S. Lewis.

Groucho Marx put it this way: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

You could probably find those quotes, plus a million more, at the Montana Valley Book Store in Alberton.

Anyone who has traveled Interstate 90 between Missoula and Spokane has certainly seen the billboard: "100,000 Used Books-Montana Valley Book Store."

For more than 40 years, that advertisement has been encouraging travelers to take a break from the road, to pull onto Railroad Avenue and check out this historic store.

"I've seen the advertising on 90 since I was a teenager," said Missoula resident Timothy Adams.

Adams was shopping the day NBC Montana visited the store.

Built in 1910, the store used to be a butcher's shop. But since the 1970s it's been a bookstore that has attracted readers from all over the world.

"I meet so many marvelous people," said owner-operator Keren Wolhart, "and then I get books. I find books and knowledge everywhere in here."

Every corner of this building is filled with books.

The store is open seven days a week. On six of those days Wolhart helps customers find the exact book they are looking for.

"We have every subject," she said, "history, literature, fine arts, practical arts, science, philosophy, religion."

You name it. It's here.

Adams was looking for a book on food.

"They're in practical arts," said Wolhart, "If you go down the aisle they start halfway down."

Adams has been captivated by the store since he saw that billboard so many years ago.

"Just going through an hour or two looking at all the books, " he said, "then you get to the end with a huge stack in your arms and you think, 'OK, what am I going to take home?'"

Whether popular or obscure, Wolhart probably has it. She recently sold a book on embalming. So she's out of that subject, at least for now.

But she pulled out "The Cadaver Dog Handbook." That's available.

"We have a book on gunfighters," she said. "Triggernometry."

"Here's The Fabulous Showman," she said, " The Life of P.T. Barnum."

She recounted the story of a young man who read dictionaries.

"He bought the oldest dictionary I had at the time," she said. "It was from the late 1800s."

She has -- and has had -- a number of valuable, rare books.

She once sold a first edition of John Steinbeck's "The Pastures of Heaven" to a customer from California.

The night before sending it, she read the book cover to cover and cleaned every page so that it was in mint condition.

Maybe the oldest and rarest book she has on hand right now is one that was printed in Latin in 1610.

That book is a little pricey. But for a little money you can buy a lot of used books.

She takes us to the basement, where there are 18 aisles of paperback books.

As he continued to collect an armful of books, Adams said, "It's just something you can get lost in."

"It can overload the brain sometimes," said Wolhart. "But it is like being a kid in a candy store."

The Montana Valley Book Store is not a library. But on the first floor, there is a comfortable chair in a cozy nook where you are welcome to sit and read for awhile.

Books, said Wolhart, appeal to all our senses. There's sight, smell and taste right in front of you.

Picking up and thumbing through a hard cover book, Wolhart said, "It's your taste in literature, and you hear the sound of the pages turning. You feel the texture of the book."

She said when electronic books first came out a few years ago, her industry saw a downturn in business.

"But," she said, "that has come around."

Readers, she said, still like to read books.

"Part of my New Years resolution," said Adams, "was to be away from screens."

Wolhartwas born in Missoula but spent her childhood in Pennsylvania, where her parents, Ken and Alicia Wales, ran a used bookstore.

In the '70s, the family opened their second store here in Alberton. They found the two-story wooden structure in the middle of town to be an ideal place to house books.

"I love this building," said Wolhart. "I always wanted to come back, and I knew that I would come and stay."

In 1981, she took over the store full time.

After her dad died, Wolhart's mom sold the Pennsylvania shop and brought the inventory to Alberton.

"I have 75,000 books in storage, " said Wolhart.

Unpacking those books, she said, "is like Christmas."

The Montana Valley Book Store is -- and always has been -- a family operation.

As we were visiting the shop, Wolhart's grandchildren played in the store, and Wolhart selected a book to read to them. It's a routine they are used to.

Every day, Wolhart unveils to her grandkids the magic found in the pages of books.