In 1841, an establishment that sold books, insurance and window shades came to the area. Then, it was called A.D. Lundy and Co. Today, Williampsort knows it as Otto Book Store.
Current owner, Betsy Rider always remembers the store being a part of her life.
Rider's father, Jack Roesgen, bought the store in 1940. This was 35 years after he first began working for the store, including a six-year break, when he moved to Philadelphia to work at the George W. Jacobs Bookstore.
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SHAWNA TURNER/Sun-Gazette
Betsy Rider, bookstore owner, shows books to Christy Lusk and her two children Cade Lusk, 9-months, and Tadd Lusk, 3.
"When my dad started working there in 1905, he was 18-years-old and thought he went to heaven. He just loved being in a bookstore. Before that, he worked in a silk mill and hated every moment of it," Rider said.
In 1958, Roesgen died and Rider's mother took it over, with Rider's help. Eventually, Rider's husband retired and she began working in the bookstore full-time.
"When my dad died in 1958, my mother took over but my dad trained me to do the bookkeeping. I had just gotten married and ended up with 10 kids. During that time, I did all of the bookwork and advertising from home. But, I didn't come in full time until after my husband retired," Rider said.
Following the death of her mother, Rider completely took over the business.
Services offered at the bookstore are free gift-wrapping, delivery, mail out books, special orders and form attachments.
One thing that sets the bookstore apart from others is they really love books, according to Rider.
"We read and love books. It's not just a check-out counter. We share our opinions of books. We collect and share opinions from other customers. If we haven't read the book, we'll say "well I know a couple of people who loved it and one who didn't like it. But, she didn't like such a such book either." We understand books," Rider said.
Books are ordered at the bookstore according to the tastes of the customers.
"If we know people are really into guns, we'll have a half a dozen books on guns. There may be a dozen books on railroads. There are a lot of local books with the history of this region," Rider said.
The bookstore also participates in the First Fridays celebrations in the city each month.
"Every First Friday we always have an author here, at least one, sometimes more than one. It is packed in here," Rider said. "This happens every First Friday. It is like ten times the number of people you get on a regular Friday."
The bookstore's biggest competitors are Amazon and other related internet sites that allow customers to purchase the same items without sales tax, providing the sites with an unfair advantage over locally owned independent bookstores, according to Rider.
"Indies (independent bookstores) are fighting for their place in the business world. Their major competitor is the internet. That is one of the motivations we had to start our own Web site," Rider said.
One way the bookstore is combating internet sites is with a book expansion the bookstore underwent this summer.
"The big thing that just happened this summer is we took on 3.5 million books on our Web site. You can search that just like you would anyone else's Web site and find out what we have and what we can get. If it says available in one to five days, we either have it or can get it within that time," Rider said.
For titles the bookstore does not have, Rider will contact the publisher to see if they could get the book.
