One of my favorite memories of downtown Springfield is Johnson's Bookstore.
My first memory of this store was going to visit Santa Claus downstairs in the toy department. I remember the doll selection that they had. I was in awe!
I remember one day while I was riding my bike on my street, I found a $10 bill. My grandmother let me keep it as there was really no way to find out who it belonged to. I went to Johnson's Bookstore and bought a Tiny Tears doll!
My next memory was when I was a young teenager. My friend Cheryl Walker and I would get dropped off downtown and one of the things we would do was to go to the record department in Johnson's Bookstore. They had a little listening booth where you could listen to a record to see if you wanted to buy it. Sounds so strange now, don't you think? Anyhow, we would bring records in there to listen to, not necessarily buy! We would stay there until we got told to move along by one of the sales people. Then we would ride on the elevator. Johnson's had one of the only elevators in the city (that I remember anyway) that didn't have an attendant to drive it. You could operate it yourself. So much fun.
As we got older, we would buy stationery and check out the Secondhand Bookshop (also a part of Johnson's) which was in a separate building behind the main store in the back alley. Paul and I used to go to that used bookstore too.
I was so sad when it closed.
At the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History at the Quadrangle in Springfield they have exhibits of old downtown Springfield businesses. One of the exhibits is about Johnson's Bookstore.
Good memories!
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