So Long Harvest…

While I don’t read as much as I used to I still enjoy opening the pages of a book when I have time and furthering my informal education. The greatest resource for any avid reader is a great used book store and for the last 15 years my wife and I had access to one of the best, Harvest Book Company in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, this weekend was our last trip to the warehouse as the store is closing its doors to daily shoppers and transitioning to a completely online storefront.

Over the years, my wife and I have made countless trips to both buy and sell books, DVDs, and CDs at Harvest and not being able to swing by the store on the weekend for some inexpensive entertainment is a little disappointing. I guess we are going to have to find another outlet that will be able to come close to the $2 per book that we are used to spending. While I am confident that we will be able to meet the price, I doubt that we will be able to meet the quality and selection to which we have become accustom.

Harvest was the place we would go to find items for ourselves, gifts for one another, as well as gifts for friends and family. All of this while being greeted by a staff that recognized us when we walked in the door and knew us by name. That may be a bit old fashioned for some but it is a hugely important to me and something that I am finding in fewer and fewer places as stores change, towns evolve, and online commerce becomes more prevalent.

That seems to be the trend lately as I have noticed more and more places changing around me. Buildings are being torn down, storefronts are changing, and some of the places that I remember going to years ago are long gone. Of course with books no longer containing paper, Wal-Mart discounting just about everything, and Amazon providing greater selection than could ever be found in a brick and mortar location I can’t say that I am really surprised by all the changes happening around us.

But, until this weekend, we still had Harvest where we could go and pick up those bundles of bound paper, movies, and albums at prices that couldn’t be matched online or in any of the major retailers around us. Now we will be forced to wait until the occasional sales when they will open their doors again. But no more spontaneous trips to Fort Washington and picking up those last minute inexpensive gifts. Things change but that doesn’t mean that I like it.

Staying Local This Weekend

 

With all the driving that I have done over the past two weeks going to Scranton and Erie, this weekend I wasn’t about to sit in the car and go on another long road trip. However, we still needed to get out of the apartment so we settled on one of our nearby stand by destinations… Harvest Books in Fort Washington. And it actually worked out well as we both needed to pick up a couple cheap books to read. So, the destination was decided but we had to do something a little different so I began searching for a new place to grab lunch. After a few minutes of searching online and reading reviews, I found a place that looked pretty darn good.

We drove into Fort Washington at about 12:30 and continued down the road listening to Siri send us in the completely opposite direction. As we turned around we reloaded the directions and began heading in the right direction. With no actual store front or sign along Bethlehem Pike, we circled around the block a couple of times before blindly turning into the parking lot with the matching street address. Finally, we arrived at Hungry Bear Café.

 

It is a really small little café in the old train station building tucked along the side of the tracks but the friendly and inviting atmosphere and tasty options listed on the brunch menu more than made up for less than desirable location. After enjoying an excellent cup of coffee the food arrived at our table looking better than the high expectations set by the ingredients. Not only was the Brioche Benedict a tasty combination accented with homemade sausage and sautéed mushrooms but the pancakes we ordered on the side are, hands down, the best that I have ever eaten.

 

However, the most impressive and kind of surprising discovery was the Au Poivre Burger that my wife reluctantly let me taste. With all of the burgers that we have had in our lives, we didn’t realize such an amazing example of burger precision could be found in Fort Washington of all places. I am not one who usually votes online for various contests but I will definitely make an exception this time and vote for Hungry Bear Café in Philadelphia Magazine’s Battle of the Burger. We will be back to try more.

After lunch we headed over to our favorite book shop right down the street from the café. While prices have increased slightly, Harvest Books is still one of the best deals for those of us that still enjoy our books in a non-digital format. And there are always a few things that I discover that I can’t pass up, especially at $2.50 apiece. And it should be no surprise that I found a number of books on Freemasonry that I had to take home with me and a few that I will be purchasing at a later date (if they are still there). Of course, my wife picked up a couple of books as well so we both headed back to the apartment with some books that we will eventually find the time to read.

While it may not have been the furthest that I have traveled recently, it was still a great local day of travel and one that I was able to enjoy with my wife. Things should be back to normal next weekend, the long holiday weekend, when we will head back out on the road and explore a new Pennsylvania destination. With that said, I still have no idea where we are going to go. I guess we will have to find out next weekend.

Staying Close To Home

After having traveled every weekend for the past couple of months my wife and I decided to take a little break this weekend and instead of exploring somewhere new we visited a place we have been going to for a number of years. It only takes about 20 minutes to get to Fort Washington, Pennsylvania from our apartment but it is still a drastic difference from the constant flow of traffic along City Avenue. There really is not a whole lot to visit up there especially on Commerce Drive where our destination is located.

Not much to look at from the outside.

At the end of a long row of warehouses there is a building that looks identical to others on the street. The blank canvas on the front of the structure doesn’t offer any curb appeal and the location is not going to draw in any foot traffic but don’t let the appearance fool you. Turning the corner and pulling into the parking lot there is nothing that captures your attention but when you look into the windows it piques your interest right away (at least it does for book lovers like us).

The van offers a glimpse of what you will find inside.

The Harvest Book Outlet is store that too few people know about which is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is nice to walk in to a sparsely patroned store and find a wide variety of books that catch my attention and that I will be able to use and enjoy. At the same time, it’s a business, and I want them to thrive in this ever changing book business. E-books are nice but nothing compared to sitting down with folio of ink and paper and enjoying the turning of the page.

For those of you (most of you) that are unfamiliar with the establishment, Harvest is a used book store that allows you to get your literary fix. Adult books out on the shelves are priced at two dollars apiece (buy 5 get 1 free) with the occasional volume priced at five dollars. Children’s books, where I can find my wife most trips, are priced at a dollar with the same buy 5 get 1 free deal. I don’t think I have ever gone there without leaving with at least a few interesting finds. For some of the harder to find more expensive books you can search their online database.

What a beautiful sight. Time to get my fix!

For my wife we have found a wide variety of Wizard of Oz books while I have found a tremendous amount of research volumes to assist me with my genealogy as well as poetry books to keep me connected with my long standing passion. In many instances, this has been the only place (including online) where I have been able to pick up hard to find books and it is one of the few places that doesn’t take advantage of that fact and keeps their prices reasonable. And when you are finished with the book you can bring it back the next time around and get some store credit.  

But the indulgence doesn’t end with books, movie fanatics can go through the DVDs and get the same deal that you would with adult books. Audiophiles can browse through rows and rows of CDs and find a wide variety of artists and genres. Some of the music and movies can even be found still in the shrink wrap.

No matter your creative addiction you can get satiate your needs while staying on a budget. There are few brick and mortar places still around where quantity, quality, and value are in harmony with one another. Harvest is one of those places and I recommend everyone in the Philadelphia area and anyone who happens to be in the area for work or pleasure to stop by Harvest Books, take a look around, and get your fix.