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Jason Merlene was an accountant, but his passions are writing and art.
“I write poetry, essays and have been working on a novel,” he says. “I wanted my life to have that as the central focus of what I was doing.”
So in 2004 he started a new chapter, switching careers to open Last Exit Books in Kent. Accented by Merlene’s abstract expressionist paintings, the bookstore has grown to include a coffeehouse and a record shop, in addition to about 30,000 books. Last Exit has become a hub for people who love the things Merlene created the store for: literature, art, poetry and philosophy.
Peruse the shelves to find new, used and discounted books about art, true crime, science, religion, philosophy and more. Also browse classic literature by authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as a section all about Ohio birding, camping, history and more.
“People who go through the art books, the literature, the poetry, the history will be pretty much knocked out by the quality,” Merlene says.
He buys the books from community members and remainders from publishing companies, and he enjoys stocking quality books that can’t be found everywhere while keeping them affordable for an in-store-only experience. He mentions a Willem de Kooning book that he sold for $29.98, despite it usually being worth over $100. He also pulled a folio edition of short stories by Ernest Hemingway, “the master,” off the shelf that he’s selling for $35.
Last Exit continues to appeal to the Kent regulars, while also bringing in new customers, many from Cleveland, Akron and Pennsylvania, who are looking for records, which have experienced a rise in popularity.
“We are old-school,” Merlene says, “but the old is the new.”
During the 2020 shutdown, he worked on renovations that connect the bookstore and coffeehouse to the new record shop. The vinyl collection takes up a whole room and features sought-after vintage albums by the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and those by newer artists like the Weeknd and Arctic Monkeys. Out-of-town visitors often buy jazz records, and they have even found deals like the limited-supply $50 psychedelic rock records from a Pennsylvania artist that were listed online for $300. “That’s why we’re a destination,” Merlene says.
The coffeehouse doubles as a workspace for Kent State University students in the afternoons and an event space in the evenings.
“I look at us as a neighborhood bookstore,” Merlene says.
The spot can get packed during open poetry nights, local poet highlights, live music performances and visits from renowned writers, such as Simon Armitage, a poet, playwright and novelist who translated “Beowulf.”
And even as the world continues to shift to digital content, Merlene thinks Last Exit will remain popular, as many customers share his interest in words, music and art.
“Younger people are getting into records and still want books,” he says. “People want something more tactile, more substantial than just a screen. … Books aren’t going away. Physical music isn’t going away.”
124 E. Main St., Kent, instagram.com/lastexitbooks
