By Katie Ginn
You know you love your bookstore when you spend four days rearranging 20,000 books – in late May – in Mississippi.
Over an extended Memorial Day “holiday,” the staff and friends of The Book Rack gave the store a major glow-up. Which is fitting, since Jackson’s beloved used bookstore is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
Included in the transformation? More space for customers to move around, or to sit with their coffee or tea (available to purchase in the store); easier navigation, especially for general fiction; and no more books that people aren’t buying.
“All the books have to earn their keep,” said owner Christy Soloveichik.
That’s because, ultimately, The Book Rack isn’t about books. It’s about reaching the community for Christ.
Obeying the call
In 2018, mere days after obeying God’s call to leave her job (without another lined up!), Christy heard that the store was up for sale. She felt a quickening in her spirit. She remembered visiting the store as a teen with her mom in the mid-’80s, hearing then owner Mrs. McMullan’s English accent, and seeing index cards with each customer’s store credit written out by hand.
After initial inquiries, discussion, and lots of prayer, Christy and her husband, Sasha, took money out of their 401K and bought the business in December 2018.
Within their first year of ownership, they knew they needed more space.
Moving and expanding
On Christmas Eve 2019, The Book Rack closed its original location in the Canton Mart Square shopping center in northeast Jackson. Less than a month later, on January 17, 2020, the store reopened just around the corner, still in Canton Mart Square but now directly behind Briarwood Animal Hospital (in the former Nursery Rhymes children’s store).
In February 2020, The Book Rack added coffee and tea service. In March 2020, everything shut down. Christy and Sasha closed up for a week … then noticed other businesses reopening, so they followed suit.
“A lot of elderly people were starving for contact with humans. Their kids were not bringing their grandkids over (due to COVID). Churches were closed, book clubs were not meeting,” Christy recalls. The Book Rack was there for them.
“The Lord really blessed us, and we were able to still thrive through all that.”
The store’s inventory kept thriving too – a little too much. Even at the new location (double the size of the old one!), The Book Rack gradually became overcrowded with boxes and stacks of books that never seemed to make it to the shelves.
So for those four days in May 2026, the team rearranged and culled books – with unwanted volumes going to a wholesaler that asked for “book bundles” to sell for decoration, Christy says. “God always provides.”
Another change in recent years? New books. Yes, at the “used bookstore”! She explains:
“I had people come in asking for Colleen Hoover, or (the) Dungeon Crawler Carl (series). If I had two or three people ask about the same thing in a short time, I’d take a look at (buying new copies). Romantasy is (also) picking up” – and book donors generally aren’t bringing in those titles, so she buys new copies.
Some folks might be surprised that Christy buys any of the above; that her most popular genre is romance (and not just the Christian variety); that she doesn’t limit herself to “clean” books.
“I prayed about that. I said, ‘Lord, if I stick to a really strict standard, there’s not much to sell.’” Yes, there are books and authors that Christy won’t stock, and she does look at the general gist of a story when making those decisions. But rather than keeping all the content PG, Christy hopes the secular books will attract all kinds of people.
“This isn’t a job. This is an assignment. When people walk in here, they feel His Spirit.”
The Book Rack is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 1491 Canton Mart Rd, Ste. 14, directly behind Briarwood Animal Hospital in Jackson. Customers may bring in up to 20 books at a time for store credit Monday through Thursday. For a list of what the store is and is not accepting, visit BookRackJackson.com/policies.