This State Street Stalwart is now in its 64th year of business

Photo by Retiring Guy

Doug Moe: Big day for Paul's proprietor.  (Madison.com, 2/13/2015)

He met Caryl, a Madison native, at the Co-op, and they married in 1952. One night, two years later — they had just started a family — Paul came home, and said, “I want to do my own book store.” 

He opened Paul’s Book Stall on a corner of State and Lake, just down from the current University Book Store location. A small barber shop was adjacent, and a dry cleaner. A few days after the store opened, John Patrick Hunter of the Cap Times came in, scouting for Civil War books. 

“You really expect to make a living selling this stuff?” Hunter said. He left $15 lighter. 

In the next decade, the store moved a few times — it was once next to the legendary 602 Club on University Avenue — before settling into the 670 State Street space in the early 1960s. A neighbor made the block-letter “paul’s books” sign that still hangs in the front window. Inside, the early regulars included UW history professor Harvey Goldberg. Later, after Paul died and Caryl was running the store, the cartoonist and children’s author Shel Silverstein was a regular visitor.

Related posts:
State Street Stalwart Sacred Feather has gone out of business.  (12/26/2018)
Another State Street stalwart is closing its doors for good.  (9/26/2015)
A State Street stalwart closes up shop.  (7/30/2015)
UPDATE:  State Street Stalwarts, 6 years later.  (2/1/2015)