Owner of Curious Book Shop Ray Walsh poses for a portrait Oct. 3, 2013, behind the counter of the store. Walsh has been the owner of the book shop for more than 40 years. Margaux Forster/The State News
In 1969, Ray Walsh began selling books out of the basement of his house on M.A.C. Avenue.
Forty-four years later, the MSU alumnus still is providing a plethora of reading material for students and community members at Curious Book Shop on Grand River Avenue.
Walsh said many people walk by the store without sparing a second glance because it appears to be so small.
Although the book shop is only 18-feet wide, it is 100-feet deep and has three floors stuffed with books, comics, magazines and posters.
“We have a lot more than people expect,” Walsh, 63, said. “Our inventory is frequently changing. We currently have over 5,000 science fiction paperbacks.”
Walsh began selling books when he was an MSU student studying communication.
One summer, he had a lot of free time and spent it reading 50 books. When he was finished, he sold the books through a classified ad.
Soon after, a professor sold Walsh 1,000 science fiction paperbacks for $100, which he sold from his basement in 1969.
When Walsh graduated in 1971, he was offered a position at a record company in California, but turned it down.
“I didn’t really want to move,” Walsh said, laughing. “I had too many books.”
After selling books from different spots in East Lansing, Walsh opened the current location of Curious Book Shop in 1973.
Walsh also owned Argos Book Shop in Grand Rapids, Mich. from 1976 to 2006 and opened Archives Book Shop in East Lansing in 1987.
Since then, Walsh has traveled across the country to find material for his stores.
At Curious Book Shop, the value of products range from 60 cents to a few thousand dollars for rarer items.
The name of Curious Book Shop stems back to Walsh’s youth when he lived in Detroit.
His favorite spot to buy books was a place called Curious Book Shop.
“I would take the bus there every day after class,” Walsh said. “That’s the place I bought my first science fiction paperback and (it) got me interested in reading.”
When he’s not selling books, Walsh enjoys writing.
At MSU, he wrote for The State News and was an editor for the yearbook.
In 1987, he began writing book reviews for the Lansing State Journal.
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His specialties are crime novels and Michigan books.
Walsh also is an organizer for the 58th Michigan Antiquarian Book and Paper Show, which will be Oct. 13 at the Lansing Center.
It is considered the largest book and paper show in the Midwest and will feature older material and expert dealers.
As for Curious Book Shop, Walsh hopes to keep it alive as long as possible.
“At Curious, you never really know what to expect,” Walsh said. “We like it that way.”
