Winnie Mercado loves to read. Her clear preference is paperbacks - indeed, she has 35,000 titles from which to choose from at her quaint store, the Paperback Exchange, in the Four Corners business district in Brookfield.
But technology has done a whammie on her business. So after a decade of owning the store whose origins date back some 30 years she will close the doors when her lease expires in June. Unless someone offers to buy the shop that she has arranged with great precision; she has pretty much memorized her inventory and there are very few titles of which she is unfamiliar.
After spending over an hour in the store for a story to appear in the News-Times online and in print, I couldn’t resist buying a paperback that though it might have been an exchange was in pristine condition. That won’t be the case when I’m done dog-earing the pages, but I’ll savor the chance to do so.
Mercado, and her sidekick pup, Hamilton, are gems. I encourage all of you to stop by the store at 774 Federal Road – located toward the rear of the building – before it’s too late.
