About Poor Richard's Booksellers

Our story

Poor Richard's Booksellers has been part of downtown Easley since 1987, when Gerald Harris opened the bookstore on Main Street. Nearly forty years later, the store remains in its original location and continues to be owned and operated by the Harris family.

The building itself has an even longer connection to both the Easley community and the Harris family. It once housed Edwin L. Bolt's dry goods store, where Gerald's grandfather worked. In 1929, Easley's first public library began inside the store with just two bookcases of books. Those books would eventually become the foundation of the Pickens County Library System.

When Gerald opened Poor Richard's in the same building decades later, books returned to a place that had already played a part in the area's reading history. Today, three generations of the Harris family have worked within its walls.

Poor Richard's is a general bookstore offering new books for readers of all ages and interests. Our shelves include fiction, nonfiction, children's books, local interest titles, history, religion, cookbooks, and much more. Our longtime booksellers know the store and its customers well and are always glad to help someone find a particular title or discover something unexpected.

The name Poor Richard's Booksellers was inspired by Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack. The store's logo also has a special family history. Gerald's mother, Maybeth Harris, drew her son as Benjamin Franklin, creating the image that has represented the bookstore from the beginning.

Gerald passed away in 2009, but his love of books and his vision for an independent bookstore in downtown Easley continue through his family and the dedicated booksellers who have cared for the store over the years.

We are proud to remain an independent, family owned bookstore in the same Main Street building where our story began.