When was the last time you bought a page-turner outside of a Borders or Barnes and Noble? With the foreclosure of Ames’ Big Table Books, it seems the local book store is becoming an increasingly rare bird.

Firehouse Books, 405 Kellogg Ave., is a used bookstore in downtown Ames that might offer a change of pace from the large chain bookstores.

“I think that we have a great selection,” said owner Jason Daub. “We have something to offer everyone.”

The store has about 30,000 books, encompassing practically every genre.

The store’s biggest and best-selling section is the science fiction section, Daub said.

Selections in the science fiction section varied from modern bestsellers to old classics.

“There are a lot of good, unusual books here,” said Brandon Janssen, junior in chemistry. “Some of this stuff I can’t even find at the library.”

The store also has several small sections of more esoteric books. Role-playing games, comic books and video game strategy guides can all be found at Firehouse.

“I like going there to look for cheap gaming books,” said Andrew Jordan, senior in mathematics.

Daub added that other popular sections are the mystery and children’s sections.

At Firehouse customers can locate rare and out-of-print books, trying online resources to fulfill customers’ requests.

“Usually, I just type in the name of a book and somebody out there has it,” Daub said. “I very rarely cannot find a book.”

The store also has several hundred vinyl records.

“It’s kind of a small part of the business,” Daub said. “It comes in waves – someone might bring in 200 to sell, and there will be a feeding frenzy for the next couple weeks.”

The vinyl section isn’t just a dumping ground for music that came out of someone’s attic, however.

“Everybody wants to get rid of that old junk, that old ’50s stuff,” Daub said. “What I try to get in here is mainly classic rock.”

Most of the records in the store are from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, but Daub said there are a few brand-new records available, as well.

As a used bookstore, Firehouse is stocked by purchases from customers. Daub assesses collections brought in by customers himself, purchasing only what he thinks will sell.

“I can’t take everything that people bring in,” he said. “But I will generally take anything sci-fi.”

Daub offers to pay cash for customers’ collections, but doubles his offer if the customer accepts store credit instead. Because of this method of stocking, he said, the store carries a lot of books that larger stores do not.

The store was purchased from former owner Barb Petersen last December. At the time, Daub owned a smaller store in Nevada and was a frequent Firehouse patron. He said he has not changed the basic business operations and that general day-to-day operations are pretty much the same.

Even so, Daub has made a few changes, such as streamlining the inventory.

“What I’ve done is put in more shelves and get rid of some of the dead wood,” Daub said. “Some of the books had been sitting on the shelves five or eight years.”

As devoted as he is to the store, Daub can’t do everything alone. He employs two people to run the store in the mornings while Daub works another job.

“I pretty much come in here and get as much work done as I can,” said Daub.

By being surrounding by books a good portion of his day, Daub remains passionate about reading, going through about one book a week.

As Firehouse continues to filter books in and out of the store, Daub said its clientele is fairly diverse and represents most of the population of Ames. He thinks students would enjoy the store despite its location away from campus.

“I get a nice mix of just about everybody, [but] I would love to see more college kids in here,” Daub said.