On a rainy Memorial Day morning, customers milled the aisles of Books, Lines and Thinkers at 2513 Main St. in Rangeley. Driftwood lamps lit the front counter, the walls covered in old photos.

Wess Connally, the owner, chatted with customers about their book selections or local news from regulars.

Thirty years after opening his original shop on the corner of Main Street and Loon Lake Road in 1996, Connally still unlocks the doors in the morning and decides which books he’ll order. 

Over the course of its run, the business has changed. Companies like Amazon put a strain on local shops. Connally said e-readers especially caused sales to dip for a while because readers could access libraries for far less. Though, he said, none of his customers ever fully gave up on physical books.

His shop, while still a bookstore, has become a beloved stop for longtime visitors to Rangeley.

“People that have been coming here for 30 years now will come in and tell me, ‘This is our first stop, we haven’t even been to our camp yet,’” Connally said.

Regulars have developed relationships with Connally and his wife, Pongsiri, who often works the front counter. She said there are longtime customers who have learned to greet her in Thai, her native language.

Connally originally came to Rangeley as an English teacher at Rangeley Lakes Regional School. He found the job while traveling through Maine, living at campsites — his mailing address set to the education office in Augusta. He almost took a job in Rumford, but the smell from the mill put him off so he looked toward Rangeley.

After nearly a decade of teaching, Connally decided to open a shop after the only other bookstore in town, Cabin Fever Books, closed.

“I knew if I didn’t do it, somebody else was going to,” he said.

The name was important to Connally. He knew he could name the shop something generic like “The Rangeley Bookstore,” but he wanted the name to be something uniquely Rangeley. So, he looked to the area’s fly-fishing history, and on a drive to Augusta he and two friends brainstormed ideas.

Inspired by an E.B. White poem, Connally originally wanted to name the shop Old Basters Books, but figured it might scandalize some. He eventually landed on Books, Lines and Thinkers.

“We have people who will stop outside and take pictures of the sign because they like the name,” he said.

The first years of business were slow. Connally started out selling his own personal collection, slowly building it up and installing more and more shelves to get the inventory to where it is today, with boxes and shelves lining every wall of the shop.

“I didn’t have a lot of books then, so I just spread them out,” Connally said. “The bookshelves were built by my friends who owned the building.”

Books, Lines and Thinkers has been at the Main Street location since 1998.

Two years into owning his business, Connally saw the 2513 Main St. storefront had a “for rent” sign in the window, and decided to move — he had been eyeing the location for years. He also opened a second franchise in Kingfield, which only lasted a few years before the commuting ran Connally ragged.

He will often hear customers say his shop is their favorite stop in town, a claim he is proud of, but also humbled by.

“If you get a big head doing this, you’re going to get in trouble,” he said.

Thirty years is a milestone for any business, but for Connally, it has special significance.

“It means I’m not as young as I was when I started,” he joked. “I was 42 when I opened the store, and I think about how fast that seemed to go. In another 10 years, I’m gonna be 82. How long can I do this? I don’t know that I’ll retire unless some health issue steps up and stops me.”

Connally said he doesn’t plan to retire unless some outside circumstance forces him to, but he jokes with customers who ask.

“You see that rocking chair over there?” he said. “One day you’re going to come in, and you’ll find me retired.”

Connally opens his shop every other day, though he makes exceptions for a weekend like Memorial Day. The shop opens at 11 a.m. and he tries to close by 5:30 p.m. If traffic is high, he’ll stay open as long as need be.

“I close when people stop coming in,” he said.