RICHLAND, Wash. – A bookstore you don’t see every day is full of different artifacts and books dating back to the 1600s. According to the owner he has the largest Science Fiction collection this side of the cascades and if you ask him, this side of the Mississippi.
Steven Woolfolk is a retired Bechtel Radiological Engineer. Woolfolk said after he retired, he decided to pursue a new chapter in life, opening a bookstore just over 3 years ago.
“The scope of the Science Fiction inventory is quite unusual,” said Woolfolk. “I kind of always been a book collector and I always bought lots of extra books knowing I was going to eventually sell them once I retired. I always wanted to open a book store.”
Woolfolk bought some land in 2018 and along with store curator Brian Sheldon, built Xenophile Bibliopole and Armorer, Chronopolis.
According to Woolfolk, the store focuses on different genres ranging from mysteries to Science Fiction. He says Science Fiction is his favorite.
“I’m a rad engineer and a scientist, and a physicist,” he said. “It’s the stuff I like and enjoy reading.”
The store is not your typical book store. There are books dating back into the 1600s, actual movies props from movies such as Star Wars, The Dark Knight and the Harry Potter franchise.
Inside the bookstore there is a room filled with artifacts about the Hanford site which include signed letters from Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Brian Sheldon, the curator of the store, said the hardest part is organizing the inventory. He said everything has a meaning.
“This is a very unique place and to save and learn all that history and to save all that and display it so that people can come and learn a little bit about where they live,” said Sheldon.
Woolfolk said he’s proud of his collection and his favorite pieces are the Einstein and Oppenheimer letters and a first edition copy of J.R.R. Tolken’s The Hobbit.
According to Woolfolk he said his favorite part of the job is the people who come through his doors.
“The customers coming in and getting to see this stuff we have,” he said. “Knowing that they’re going to take it home now and it’s going to continue down the collecting and the people who care about this stuff.”
If you want to see Woolfolk’s collection, Xenophile Bibliopole and Armorer, Chronopolis is located at 2240 Robertson Drive in Richland.
Woolfolk said they are open Thursday through Saturday 11 to 5.
