Boardman store becoming place to go for used books, comics and local artwork for sale
Craig Duster’s early adulthood dream came true in 2020 when he took a chance and opened POP Art Books Culture in Boardman.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Duster felt it was the right time to open his own business to sell used books, comics and commissioned artwork.
“It was something I’d thought about doing since I was 19 years old and I’m in my fifties now,” Duster said. “We had the opportunity to do it and decided to go for it.”
Before moving to Ohio in 2020, Duster and his family lived in Denver.
“We moved out here basically to be closer to my mom,” he said. “I worked back in Colorado in a couple of art galleries and really enjoyed that a lot. I also had a comics side business. When we moved here, there weren’t many used bookstores outside the corporate stores. In 2020, there were almost no used bookstores in the area; a few have opened since then.”
In the last few years, Boardman and Mahoning Valley customers have welcomed POP with open arms.
“The outpouring and the support from the community has been crazy,” Duster said. “We get a lot of people coming in here who are really excited there’s a store here and that they’re able to get used books, as opposed to new book prices which have gotten out of control.”
He’s passionate about showcasing local artists and keeping prices of books low for avid readers in the community on a budget.
“A new hardcover book cost can cost $28 - $30 and even more sometimes,” Duster said. “Even if you only read one a month, you’re looking at almost $400 a year for just for books. Here, we try to keep the prices as low as possible. Most of our hardcovers are between $4 and $7.50, but we try to keep it right around $5.”
“Our mass-market paperbacks are usually $2-$3. We try to keep the prices as low as possible, so people can get the books that they’re looking for,” he added.
Local art thrives at POP Art Books Culture
At POP Art Books Culture, customers can find original commissioned artwork from local creatives, such as Jennuhlee who made the store’s Coraline painting.
“I had worked in a couple of galleries before I had arrived here in Youngstown, and that was another thing that I thought was missing from the community,” Duster said. “There’s a lot of really talented local artists who sell at craft fairs and other stuff, but there’s very few galleries that’ll show artists. There are some really talented people. Probably the artist that we sell the most is this fantastic local artist named Jennuhlee. She’s a product of this area; she grew up here and was trained here.”
Duster is hoping to transform a back room at the store into an artist gallery.
“A lot of artists, because they do a lot of craft fairs and things like that, don’t yet necessarily understand how a gallery like ours can help take them to the next level in their artwork,” Duster said. “It’s a good store that sells the artwork in collaboration with an artist to help them sell more.”
Duster said many artists in the area just need a place to show their artwork and exposure to clients.
“They need to be able to see that this is a career path that they can take. If you take somebody who has just started becoming an artist, and show them that there is a way to become a professional artist and make art for a living, that is so important. That is really something that motivates me,” he said.
Writers, readers meet at POP Art Books Culture
Duster said he’s also connected with different book club readers in Boardman and local writers with the Youngstown Writers’ Guild, a writing group organized by Lit Youngstown.
On the third Saturday of each month in 2025, the Youngstown Writers Guild meets at POP Art Books Culture in Boardman.
“It’s an informal group of writers of all levels, of all walks of life, writing works of different genres. They meet in our back room here, and I really enjoy it when they come in,” he said. “They have such a nice energy about them and make the store feel happier when they’re in here because they’ve got such great positive energy.”
Duster said the Boardman book club meets monthly at the bookstore.
“It’s a once-a-month book club, but we have two dates so we can accommodate different people’s schedules,” he said. “This month, we’re reading The Time Machine, the H.G. Wells classic, and then next month we’ll be reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.”
This year, the slow readers’ fantasy book club started meeting at POP Art Books Culture in Boardman to discuss Jade City.
“I had some people approach me a few times asking about doing fantasy or larger books,” Duster said. “But those fantasy books tend to be anywhere between 800 and 1,200 pages. Katya, one of the people from the Youngstown Writers Guild, had the idea to break it up into little pieces. We’re reading about 200 pages a month on this book called Jade City, which came out a couple years ago by Fonda Lee.
“We just had our first meeting this week, and then we’ll be meeting again in February and so on about 200 pages a pop until we get it done,” he said.
Duster said he’s also looking forward to hosting a paint-and-sip at 1 p.m. Jan. 26 with Mary Sinclair.
“She’s a fantastic artist; she’ll be doing a pre-Valentine’s Day paint-and-sip, specifically for people who don’t normally paint. She’s really great with people to inspire them to show some of their own creative work,” Duster said.
POP Art Books Culture is open weekdays except Tuesday from 11 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday and noon - 4 p.m. on Sunday at 6949 Market St. in Boardman.
Stay up-to-date on future events by checking the store’s website and social media.
“Used bookstores especially are really dependent on the community, because a lot of our inventory and a lot of our stock comes in from people who are bringing in books to trade or donate,” Duster said. “We don’t have huge marketing budgets. I’ll pay for advertising, I’ll do all this other stuff, but really the most important way to get the word out about the store is somebody saying something to somebody else about it, like ‘Oh, did you know that there’s a used bookstore here? Have you been down there yet? Let’s go!’”
