Museum of Fond Memories at Reed Books

Reed Books was started in 1980. ArgusFoto (Atlas Obscura User)

When Jim Reed’s growing collection of books and random objects started taking over his family’s house, he knew there was only one thing to do. He set up a bookstore, in 1980.

Reed Books is a rare and unusual book store, also housing the “Museum of Fond Memories.” This unique shop contains books as old as 500 years and more contemporary books. The museum allows visitors to examine and purchase the antiquarian objects, including some rare volumes most shops no longer carry.

Reed began adding to his already extensive collection of literature and the result was a cozy book loft with old and new books battling for shelf space. The tenor of the store is nostalgia; Reed has great memories of growing up surrounded by books and the bookstore is an attempt to create such an atmosphere for visitors. The shop’s “museum” is an assortment of stickers, toys, albums, trinkets, posters, and other objects “you wish your mother had not thrown away.” The collection is eclectic, but Jim Reed knows where everything is.

Know Before You Go

Located in the heart of beautiful historic Downtown Birmingham, Alabama, it is within walking distance of eight museums and many unique one-of-a-kind shops, such as Sojourns, What's On Second, Oddities, the Goodyear Shoe Hospital, Forstall Art, and many attractions such as the old Alabama Theatre, The Lyric Theatre, The Carver Theatre, The Imax Theatre, The McWane Center, The Goodyear Shoe Hospital.