On a snowy afternoon, Jane Kessler apologized for the silence at. "It looks like not a lot is going on," she said. Right then, the telephone rang. Minutes later, two shoppers walked in. They'd been talking about the store and decided to drop in.
The Appletree is a fixture in the Cedar Fairmount district. Kessler bought the bookstore in 1990 after retiring as a psychology professor at Case Western Reserve University. The business has watched bigger stores, like Borders and Joseph Beth, cut back and close. Kessler says the key is customer service, and her willingness to do outside events.