Knowing Your Neighbors: Chester Creek Books

A Book Store With the Collector in Mind

Mark Kilen knows a thing or two about old books.

“I’ve always been interested in books,” he explains, sitting back in his desk chair. “This building came along at just the right time. I’d been retired, and I had a large quantity of books.”

Chester Creek Books and Antiques may be a living relic to the book stores of the past.

In the age of Kindles and E-Readers, used book stores don’t just pop up all over the place anymore.

Yet, it’s Kilen’s passion for collecting that fuels his business, and attracts his customers.

“This building came along, and I picked it up, and it’s worked very nicely for me,” Kilen said.

And as for his “large quantity” of books?

Kilen says he has about 40,000 of them in his shop on East Superior Street.

“I probably have another 10,000 stashed away here and there,” he claims. “It keeps increasing.”

The idea for Kilen’s shop came from his own personal interest in collecting books, a hobby of more than 30 years, and something he became personally known for before turning it into a business.

“It gradually grew on me until I was dealing in books out of the house, and then into a shop, and then going to book fairs and other things,” Kilen said.

His shop is a book collector’s dream.

And it’s an antiquer’s dream as well.

Rather than separate antiques from books, Chester Creek Books has all of the above on display together.

“I think they go well together,” Kilen said. “I’m able to display the books in a fashion in a way that I think is pleasant. I’m able to bring some very nice pieces of antique furniture and glass china in that serves as a good background for the books.”

Kilen says that he gets great joy when someone finds exactly what they’re looking for, that one precious item.

“It’s like treasure hunting with any other form,” Kilen said. “Whether you’re panning for gold or looking for antiques. It’s just those few that come and jump out at you that are really the fun.”

So maybe you’ve tried one of those electronic readers or some other newfangled app or some bit of technology.

Mark Kilen says there’s always a market for the real thing – old or new – that will never go out of style.

Chester Creek Books is located on the corner of Superior Street and 14th Avenue East in Duluth.

They are open Wednesday through Sunday.