By Jack Krayenhoff

Funky. Do you know that word? If you are my age, you did not grow up with it, and I only know it because my children explained it to me. What it means is fun in an unexpected, engaging way. And if that still doesn't explain it, the thing to do is to visit James Bay Coffee and Books, on 143 Menzies Street, across the road from Thrifty's.  That is a funky place.

James Bay Coffee and BooksIt seems it was a doctor's office once, and that explains why the bookstore part is a warren of cubicles - those must have been the examining rooms. At the back, where a young man is working with his laptop -it is an internet café- used to be the consulting room, I bet. And the waiting room? People still are sitting there, but now they are reading a book they have taken off the shelves, while sipping the coffee they bought in the café part. The place breathes a book-lovers' atmosphere.

Kim Willoughby is the owner. She has a degree in English Literature and she loves reading herself. The irony of running the place, she says, is that keeping the bookstore stocked and the café supplied, and the paperwork kept up, keeps her so busy that she hardly has time left for reading herself.

She feels the store is a good match for her James Bay clientele. She has already expanded the religion and New Age sections, and also those of alternative healing, poetry, the classics, B.C. history and cook books, but especially the shelves of world religion and philosophy she cannot restock fast enough at times.

Yes, book lovers have found her store all right, but even so Kim, like other bookstores, is feeling the pinch of the electronic books, which have recently begun to gobble up substantial parts of the book market. What the future holds is anybody's guess, but, Kim says, "Nothing beats the romance of a book, of holding it and turning the page". And, we  add, of browsing through the shelves of a bookstore, and coming up with an unexpected treasure!

There is yet another trend that is hard on the world of books says Kim, and that is in today's society people are less inclined to commit to the time and quiet that reading a book requires.  The media, 'texting' and social networking like Facebook all cater to short attention spans, and reading a book requires more than that.

But James Bay Coffee and Books does more than selling books - it builds community.

On Saturdays there are music evenings, with local musicians playing their instruments. "Mostly acoustic" Kim stresses. "Not offensively loud". It is family-friendly, and admission is free, though she hopes people will buy a cup of coffee and some goodies while they are there, for after all - she has to pay the rent.  Also the hat is passed around, and that is for the musicians. When Kim took over the place four years ago, the music evening fitted in very well with her own background, for she used to be a jazz singer.

Tuesday evenings are Scrabble nights. Actually you don't have to play Scrabble; if you want you can just watch, or strike up a conversation with others - it is not competitive, and people are very welcoming. And again, by all means have a cup of coffee and something to nibble, but nobody will make you. It's about having an enjoyable time.

Well, there you go. James Bay Coffee and Books is more than a bookstore and a coffee shop next door to each other. It's a James Bay institution, it's an active, contributing part of our community.