About
A bookshop for people who read the margins
Marginalia opened in 1998 in a former dry cleaner’s on Lindenwood Lane, with eleven shelves, one used-book cart and a hand-painted sign. It’s been growing a shelf at a time ever since.
How it started
Nell Hargrove sold books in Chicago for nine years before she moved home to Ann Arbor in 1998, with a loan from her aunt, a truck full of used shelving and the idea that a bookshop should feel more like a friend’s living room than a warehouse. She named it Marginalia after the notes readers write beside the text: the best part of a bookstore is what people say to each other about the books.
The shop took over the unit next door in 2007, which made room for the children’s corner and the back room of used books. In 2020 we started shipping and online pickup, which kept us open when we couldn’t be.
We’re still small on purpose. Every book on the front table is there because one of us read it.
- 1998Opened on Lindenwood Lane
- 2007Added the used-book room
- 2020Started online pickup and shipping
- Since 2009Story time every Saturday
The people behind the counter
Four booksellers with strong opinions and a cat who has the last word.
- NH
Nell Hargrove
Owner and buyer
Opened Marginalia in 1998 after nine years in Chicago bookstores. Buys the new books, runs the front table and has never met a cookbook she could leave on the shelf.
More about Nell Hargrove - MQ
Marisol Quintana
Children’s books and story time
Former kindergarten teacher who runs the children’s corner and Saturday story time. Knows which picture book to hand a sleepy four-year-old and which to hand the parent.
- WB
Walt Brennan
Used books and special orders
At Marginalia since 2003. Prices the used books, makes offers on your boxes and can find nearly any title in print, and a surprising number that aren’t.
More about Walt Brennan - TW
Theo Whitfield
Events and online orders
Books the readings, runs the book club and packs the online orders. Reads science fiction and poetry, and will argue for both.
Pickle, head of shelf security
Pickle came in out of a thunderstorm in September 2016, ate a can of tuna and went to sleep on the new arrivals table. Nobody has been able to move her since.
She lives in the front window, supervises every delivery and accepts payment in chin scratches. She’s ten, she’s a little overweight and she does not go on the shop floor, but she’s happy to be admired through the glass.
Books chosen by people who’ve read them
The front table is picked by us, not by a publisher’s sales rep. If we haven’t read something, we ask someone who has.
Fair prices on used books
When we buy, we make an honest offer and we explain it. When we sell, we price used books the way we’d want to be priced.
Local first
Every month, at least one reading is by someone who lives within twenty miles. Their books go on the front table, not the back wall.
A shop everyone can use
Step-free entry, wide aisles, a lowered counter and a quiet hour on Sunday morning. Tell us what we can do better.
What readers say
- ★★★★★
“I came in for one birthday gift and left with four books and a bookmark. Walt remembered what I bought last spring and had the next one in the series waiting.”
Karen D.Regular, Burns ParkReview on Google - ★★★★★
“My daughter has asked to go to story time every Saturday since August. Marisol does all the voices, and she never once rushed the kids who wanted to talk.”
Amir S.Story time parentReview on Google - ★★★★★
“Best used-book room in the county. I sold two boxes, got a fair offer and a stack of store credit, and walked out with a book I’d been hunting for ten years.”
Lucia M.Sold and bought used booksReview on Google
Come say hello
We’re at 41 Lindenwood Lane, open every day. There’s no café, but there’s always a kettle on for the booksellers, and you’re welcome to a cup.