Requiem For a Friend

By Don Vaughan, donaldvaughan.com

Last year, I lost one of my best friends. We’d known each other for eighteen years, and had grown extremely close. We visited almost weekly, and shared innumerable stories on topics both intimate and far-reaching. I miss my friend a lot.

This special friend wasn’t a person, but the McKay’s Used Books & More in Raleigh, which suddenly and inexplicably closed its doors in April 2017. When Nan and I moved to Raleigh from South Florida in 1999, McKay’s was one of the first stores we visited. It was weird and funky, offering everything from books and vinyl to video games, posters and DVDs. Whatever your media/pop culture needs, McKay’s probably had it.

Over the years, we followed McKay’s to three different locations, finally landing at 3514 Capital Boulevard, where it shared a shopping strip with a furniture rental store and a Trade It!, the latter also now closed. Our fondness for McKay’s was such that our preferred Friday night date became dinner out and a visit to McKay’s, where inevitably we would add to our ever-growing library of books and movies.

McKay’s felt like home. We became friends with many of the young people who worked there, sharing common interests and checking out each other’s latest tattoos. There were always a lot of tattoos at McKay’s. Piercings, too. All of which added to the store’s unique bohemian vibe.

Though it sold an eclectic array of stuff, McKay’s was, at its core, a bookstore. And what a glorious bookstore it was, too, its bookcases comprised of old wooden crates stacked high and bent by the weight of the tomes within. Unlike a lot of used-book stores, McKay’s enjoyed a steady turnover, so there were always new books in stock when we visited. Nan and I have different literary interests, so we would separate upon entering the store, do our own thing, then meet again at the check-out counter. More often than not, we would bring in older books to trade for store credit, which helped power our literary pursuits.

I eventually developed a theory that if I waited long enough, everything I wanted would eventually show up at McKay’s. My patience paid off many times with the delightful discoveries of titles long on my list. Nan also added mightily to her collections, often stumbling across multiple volumes in a particular series or by a particular author. Every Friday visit became a treasure hunt.

As regular patrons, we were privy to a lot of the craziness that went on at McKay’s. Encounters with crazy homeless people were an occasional hazard. You had to request a key to use the rest room because one time someone was, shall we say, less than adult when using the facilities. A burst pipe once flooded a portion of the store, causing significant problems. But through it all, McKay’s persisted.

It’s been almost a year since McKay’s closed its doors. We’ve moved on to other book stores, but still experience a pang of longing when we pass McKay’s still empty storefront. We hadn’t really realized just how important McKay’s had become in our lives until it was gone.

Maybe some day someone will take over the old McKay’s and open another book store. I would definitely visit, but it likely wouldn’t be the same kind of weirdly wondrous experience it was at the height of McKay’s popularity.

So one year after your passing, allow me to say farewell, old friend. You are missed by all who love to read.