Family Vocation

mom and pop shop: Jerry and Shassy Russakoff have spawned a generation of booksellers. "We're all independent. We all love each each other," says Shassy.
Photo By: Patrick Rapa

Not sure what the first name in used books is around these parts, but the last name is surely Russakoff. Shassy and Jerry Russakoff have been behind one stack of books or another since they don't know when, sometime in the '50s.

They were a couple of Philly kids who met on their first day as freshmen at Temple. "He fell in love with me immediately," beams Shassy.

"Fifty-six years ago," says Jerry.

"Oh my god, imagine that," exclaims Shassy. The two smile at each other like young lovebirds.

They got into the book biz because raising four kids on Jerry's teacher's salary was getting tough. It was a natural move, since they used to enjoy cheap dates at book shops when they were "going together." Their enterprise began with a spot in the Bristol Farmers Market, and then a place on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Shassy would take the kids down to the beach on breaks. The couple has been manning the stacks at Russakoff's Books & Records, at 10th and Locust, since 1982.

So serene and rewarding was life in the used books business that two of Shassy and Jerry's kids opened up shops in town. Joe Russakoff owns the eclectic, appropriately named Mostly Books on Bainbridge, while his sister owns Molly's Café & Bookstore in the Italian Market. With Molly's two young kids and three cats running around the store, it must recall the earliest days of the Russakoffs' book-selling dynasty. (A third sibling, Eddie, opened Rustic Music on 13th Street. Only Julie Russakoff, who lives in California, escaped running a business in Philadelphia.)

Shassy laughs at the idea of the Russakoff bookshops being in competition with each other. "We're all independent. We all love each other."

Russakoff's Books & Records
A young man walks in with a bag full of books and asks if he can sell them. Jerry Russakoff asks if store credit is OK. The guy leaves a few moments later promising to return to spend his voucher. "You see that?" asks Shassy. "The people who come to bookstores are gentle people." That pretty much sums up the cordial, enthusiastic attitude at Russakoff's. The store is particularly well stocked in literature and philosophy books, but they pride themselves in the breadth of the selection in their multi-tiered, brightly lit shop. Just about every open space has a book in it (or a used CD, record, or vintage poster), but Shassy and Jerry could tell you where everything is if you ask.
--Patrick Rapa
259 S. 10th St., 215-592-8380.

Mostly Books
"The Internet took the edge off, but there are still people who don't want to buy a book based on a description or picture that pops up on a computer screen, they want to hold it in their hands before they buy it," says Joe Russakoff. He believes that bookstores like his meet the needs of an enduring niche market. As its name implies, books outnumber everything else for sale in the cavernous Mostly Books (the ground floor of a former warehouse or stable, depending on whom you ask), but even the most word-phobic browsers are likely to find something of interest here, especially if they have a thing for dust-spangled attics. Sharon Bruce, who runs the store with boyfriend Russakoff, rummages through a box of books, separating the wheat (a paperback about clairvoyant Edgar Cayce) from the chaff (Readers Digest Condensed Books and encyclopedias). Hundreds of faded snapshots beckon from within an open trunk. Just a block off South, Mostly Books is not a magnet for the typical South Street crowd. Customers include booklovers from the neighborhood and beyond, drawn to its relaxing atmosphere and ever-changing inventory.
--Trish Boppert
529 Bainbridge St., 215-238-9838.

Molly's Caf & Bookstore
Molly Russakoff was a 1995 Pew fellow and the former poetry editor for the now-defunct Philadelphia Independent. Add that to her membership in the reading Russakoffs and you have to figure running her own bookshop, which she has since '99, was probably inevitable. "I tried other things," she says, including a restaurant and Ninth Street Books and Records. "But I know books. I like being around them." Molly's has made a name for itself with a curated selection, packed readings and the clever "We Work at the Bookstore" newsletter, put out by refugees from the Independent.
--P.R.
1010 S. Ninth St., 215-923-3367, www.mollysbooks.com.