Bookworm Haven keeping the love of reading alive in Pahrump.

In today’s technological age, it’s not easy to find a bookstore, let alone one that specializes in used books for reasonable prices but that’s exactly what shoppers will find at Bookworm Haven.

This longstanding local book shop has been offering area readers a treasure trove of adventure and information since the 1980s, when John Sturgeon, inspired by his daughter’s love of reading, established the store with a couple thousands books from the family’s collections. Sturgeon passed away in 2015 but his daughter, Kaye Valdes, has carried on the Bookworm Haven in his memory ever since.

“This is her father’s legacy, so it is definitely a labor of love for her,” Rachel Ross told the Pahrump Valley Times.

One of the small staff that make up Bookworm Haven, Ross said the store is something truly special in that it supports the continued love of reading while also acting as something of a hub where those with shared interests can find friendly conversation and connection.

Despite its long history in the valley, however, Ross said Bookworm Haven is still a bit of an unknown to many and she’s hoping to help raise awareness about this little Pahrump gem.

“You’d be surprised how many people come in and tell me, they’ve lived here for years and didn’t know we were here,” Ross remarked. “We don’t do much advertising, it’s mostly word-of-mouth and we’d love for everyone to know we’re here, with a great selection of books for pretty much anyone.”

Describing Bookworm Haven as your classic old book store, complete with that unique old book scent and shelves heavily laden with texts, Ross said buyers will find books on nearly any subject they could desire.

“We have all of your traditional genres - mystery, horror, romance, sci-fi and fantasy, young adult, we’ve got a huge children’s section, we’ve got classics, books on art and music, a section for families that includes books on marriage and pregnancy planning, do-it-yourself books, poetry, short stories,” she detailed. “And of course, we’ve got all kinds of nonfiction, such as history, science, religion, biographies, autobiographies, a travel section, true crime. We also have a small section for our homeschoolers, with educational books. And we’ve just put up our Christmas section so we have whole selection of Christmas books for those who want to come in and get into the Christmas spirit.”

Shoppers won’t find any computerized systems with inventory at Bookworm Haven but the staff are more than happy to assist in the search for what a buyer is looking for, based on genre. “Everything is organized by genre and then organized by alphabetical order by author’s last name,” Ross noted.

As a used book store, Bookworm Haven also accepts donations of gently used books, too, but with shelf space at a premium and stacks of books already occupying basically every other inch of the store, they are not currently able to accept more than 10 books at a time. Donors are asked not to leave donations of books at the store after hours or without speaking with a staff member first.

But each gently used book that is donated then gets the donor something in return – store credit.

“Every book you bring me is half off the book you buy – so every book you bring me acts as a 50% discount,” Ross explained. “And we keep accounts for our customers so that if you come and donate some books and say, you don’t find something you want to buy that day, that’s OK, because the credit for the books you donate stays on your account!”

Bookworm Haven is currently running a special that gives donors of newer books, those published within the last five years or so, double the discounts.

“A lot of our inventory is older books and we’re trying to get an influx of newer books, because I know people have them out there. So we’re doing a special now through probably March, where, for every book you bring me that is from 2020 or newer, I’ll give you two credits. So you’ll get 50% off your next two books. I’m hoping that will help us bring in some of the new stuff,” Ross said.

Bookworm Haven is located at 920 Fifth Street and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 775-727-4186.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com