The One and Only Bookstore in Town

 The Book Rack is Titusville’s only real bookstore. It sits on a corner in historical, down town. Businesses come and go here, but Lynne, the proprietor, has been tending to book needs for ten years and counting. The store draws customers from the nearby marina; and since they arrive in their boats, they have no other means of transportation, except walking or biking. Lynne’s place is a godsend to them. Street parties bring people in, as have spacecraft launches for many years. Now the Titusville Book Rack is the bookstore of choice for nearby small towns such as Christmas, on the other side of the St. John’s River and Mims to the North. Day-trippers drop in too.

When asked why she decided to open a brick and mortar bookstore, Lynne said it had always been her dream. The fulfillment of that dream was in the timing. First, she grew up in small town Titusville and couldn’t wait to see the larger world beyond. During a building boom, she lived in Houston, and later, Clearwater, a part of the St. Petersburg sprawl. Twenty-five years after she left, family drew her home again. By that time, the Space Coast was all right with her. As her husband said, “It doesn’t matter where you live as long as you’re with the one you love.” To Lynne that was exactly right, so she and the one she loved started looking around for a way to make a living. At that time, there was not a single bookstore in Titusville. Oh, you could drive an hour to a big-box store in another town, but Titusville had nothing except the small selection of new books at Wal-Mart. Lynne wanted to carry used books as well. She loved them all.

The Book Rack is housed in a vintage downtown building at 346 Washington Avenue. If you happen to be on I-95 near Titusville, and an irresistible urge for a book comes over you, take the I-95 Garden Street exit, drive east to Highway One, turn south and keep going until you come to a restored Victorian mansion in the historic downtown area. The Book Rack is on the same side of the street, and you may pull into the municipal parking lot between them and park free.

Lynne carries a variety of books, both new and used. If she’s not too busy, she loves to chat with customers.

Before she bought the store, people she talked to thought she might get time to read on the job, but that didn’t happen. She’s interested in people’s reading habits, though. She’s impressed with our own Onisha who has a want-to-read list of over four hundred books, and Lynne has customers who read a book a day.

Lynne still has bookstore dreams. For one thing, she’d like to have invitation only readings by some of her local authors. Soon she’ll be heading to the big city to stock up on books she knows her customers will like.

Excuse me for mentioning this, I know the story is about Lynne and The Titusville Book Rack, but in case you’re looking for them, Lynne stocks Rebekah Lyn’s Julianne, Winter’s End, and Summer Storms. She also has my Florida Springs Trilogy: Sacred Spring, Living Spring, and Clear Spring. Who knows, maybe we’ll get to have readings in the Book Rack one of these days. We’ll let you know if we do.

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