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Mae's Bookstore Goes Online

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

PLANT CITY - The owner of Manatee Bay Cafe and Mae's Bookstore has refined his one-stop shopping theory with an online twist.

Many customers who come by Wayne Shelton's cafe for breakfast, brunch or lunch often kill time by checking out his bookstore in the same building at 119 S. Collins St.

Now, the bookstore has increased its customer base by contracting with Amazon.com to allow local and international customers to shop online.

"With the price of gas the way it is and people staying closer to home, online shopping is on the upswing," Shelton said. "We still invite our customers to browse through the 100,000 books we have on the shelves. But a portion of our inventory is now listed with the Internet provider."

Amazon.com lists millions of books by title and author. When a customer searches for a title, it shows merchants with the book in stock, including Mae's Bookstore.

Shelton has about 8,000 books listed with Amazon.com. More are being added every day.

Clerk Karen Davis said the online aspect of Mae's Bookstore has been hugely successful.

"It's only been three months since we started, but we have seen the online response triple each month," Davis said. "This fall we are going to devote more time to the online aspect. We'll probably hire another full-time clerk to help cover the increased workload."

Shelton acquired the inventory and name of Mae's Bookstore, a longtime downtown business mainly selling paperbacks, last year.

Most customers still buy books the old-fashioned way.

"Customers are welcome to come in and see everything we have in stock," Shelton said. "We have a great variety of books of assorted genre."

Special sections contain novels; books on science fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, cops and crime, war and religion; and hardbacks. All books can be traded, with a $1 credit on any book in reasonable condition brought into the store.

"We take almost everything for trade except small romance novels and technical texts," Shelton said. "You bring in a book, and we'll give you credit on your next purchase. Credit can be used to pay up to 50 percent of the bill."

Elaine Roney, a customer who lives off Sam Allen Road, enjoys the ease of shopping.

"I come here for two reasons," Roney said." To eat and buy books."

She trades her books when she is done reading them.

"Trading what you have already read makes it almost a buy one, get one free," she said.

Roney's daughter-in-law Jenny Roney goes her one better.

"It's like a vicious cycle," she said. "I buy books at Mae's to read or give to my friends. They, in turn, give me books to read and bring back here for trade. It never ends."

Jenny Roney found a copy of "Angela's Ashes," a family biography by Irishman Frank McCourt.

"This is a re-read for me," Roney said. "It's one of my favorite books. I visited many of the places found in the book during a trip to Ireland several years ago. It's nice to find such a large selection in a local store."

The inventory continues to grow, Shelton said.

"With the trading policy, I can continue to add new titles to the list of books we already have. There's not a lot of money in paperbacks, but the volume of sales helps to keep the business going."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Manatee Bay Cafe and Mae's Bookstore

ADDRESS: 119 S. Collins St., Plant City

HOURS: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday

TELEPHONE: (813) 707-1450

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451 or gnewman@tampatrib.com.

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