A Banner Month for Mary Gay Shipley and That Bookstore

January 30, 2008

Mary Gay Shipley and her store, That Bookstore in Blytheville (TBIB), have not lacked for accolades this month. In January, Main Street Arkansas named TBIB as its Main Street Merchant of the Year; AY Magazine's March issue picked Shipley as one of its 12 Powerful Women; and, earlier this month, TBIB was one of nine independent bookstores featured in an AP story about bookstores worthy of being great tourist destinations.

In early January, Main Street Arkansas, a program of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, recognized That Bookstore in Blytheville as its Main Street Merchant of the Year. The award honors the Main Street merchant who demonstrates an outstanding commitment to the local Main Street program and sets high standards for their own business. "It's pretty awesome," Shipley said in a recent interview. "I always feel unworthy of these kinds of things -- I feel like I'm just here doing my job. But I really believe in the Main Street Program."

Shipley noted that Blytheville's local Main Street-affiliated group had nominated the bookstore, and after winning at the local level, the bookstore was in the running for the statewide award. The Main Street Arkansas Awards are presented biannually and serve to recognize outstanding individual, organizational, and community achievements that are vital to the overall success of the local Main Street program. This year, awards were given in 15 categories that represent the Main Street Four-Point Approach to downtown revitalization.

In picking TBIB as its Merchant of the Year, Main Street Arkansas noted: "Mary Gay Shipley has owned and operated her nationally-known 'That Bookstore' for more than 30 years, and worked vigorously to make Blytheville as well-known as her store. Shipley's bookstore is a cultural hub for the city of Blytheville, the Delta region, and the country. Authors on national tour, such as John Grisham, frequently stop in Blytheville for special luncheons in the bookstore's back room. Visitors from Memphis, Jonesboro, and the surrounding tri-state area come to the luncheons to meet the authors and hear the passages of their most recent works.

"Apart from her successful business, Shipley has immersed herself in Blytheville's Main Street program. She served as the first president of the Main Street Blytheville in 1990, and has advocated for the program both verbally and financially. When the program had a staffing turnover last year, Shipley left her business to work in the Main Street office one day a week."

In the March edition of AY magazine, an Arkansas-based lifestyle magazine, Shipley is picked as one of Arkansas' 12 Powerful Women. "I don't see myself as a powerful woman, but I'll take it," Shipley joked.--David Grogan

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