For 55 years, Grass Roots Books has been providing the Corvallis and Oregon State University community with a carefully-curated selection of books, emphasizing local authors and hosting events both in-store and on the OSU campus with area writers.
Originally opened by Jack Wolcott and Sandy Smith, the store has recently changed ownership to three store employees, two of whom have strong OSU connections, and all of whom share a deep love of highlighting OSU authors and hosting community events.
OSU alum Jay Enghauser and spouse Brandon Enghauser, a current post-baccalaureate OSU student, have joined longtime friend Amber Hamilton as co-owners of Grass Roots. Although the store was officially handed over in February, the transition has been in the works since April 2025 when Jack and Sandy first started making retirement plans.
“Jack and Sandy asked what I wanted my role to be when they retired and I jumped in and said ‘Potential buyer!’” Jay recalled.
The timing was perfect as just a week previously, they and their friend Amber (both pictured above) had seriously been discussing opening their own bookstore. Amber was a long-time Grass Roots customer and she and Jay had become friends and were attending a queer book club locally. At the same time, Jay was taking an online American Book Sellers Association Book Sellers class and was starting to seriously imagine being a book store owner.
“One of my first text messages to Amber was ‘We should open our own book store,’” Jay said. So when Jack and Sandy presented the opportunity, it seemed like kismet. Jay’s partner Brandon, who also worked at Grass Roots, was quickly on board with the idea as well.
“I kind of thought they were a little bit crazy and didn’t know how it would work out, but it became more and more feasible,” Brandon said. Born in Corvallis and raised in Philomath, he met Jay at Philomath High School and they have been together since. He got a degree at OSU in computer science but toward the end of his senior year he realized his true calling was in biology, so he’s now pursuing a second degree and working at the OSU Seed Lab.
Brandon has been using his interest in science to help bring new books to the store, including a guide on mushrooms, an exploration of the science of nightmares and a butterfly field guide.
Jay graduated from OSU with a degree in creative writing after working at the Writing Center, becoming the editor in chief of PRISM literary magazine and joining the creative writing society. They credit their involvement with those extracurricular activities with pulling them out of their shell and giving them the leadership and people skills that they’ll need as a book store owner.
“Before I went to OSU I was super introverted,” Jay said. “Once I forced myself to go to the creative writing club I found I was very uplifted and confident, and that is what pushed me into other fields as well.”
Jay also wants to honor the longstanding connections Grass Roots has with the university. As the former events coordinator for Grass Roots, Jay knows how important the store is to promoting faculty authors. In fact, the first event they organized for the store was for their former poetry professor, Karen Holmberg.
“It’s been super nice to go back and keep supporting that community,” Jay said. “I came into Grass Roots really focused on supporting local writers and authors, and I’ve continued to hold that stance. It’s important to have vetted, self-published authors. Our bookstore might be the only store that their book ever goes into, or it might be the very first bookstore their book appears in.”
Amber joined Grass Roots as a book seller in the spring to get more experience and make sure she knew what she was getting into. Her love of reading has led to the introduction and expansion of several sections, including romance and horror, and she’s even created a ‘spice level’ system for romance books to indicate their amount of adult content so readers can select their own comfort level, as well as indicating if books have queer representation. Before moving to Corvallis and joining Grass Roots, she was an accountant in Michigan, and those skills will also come into play as a co-owner.
Amber is especially proud of Grass Roots’ connection to university events hosted at PRAx, The LaSells Stewart Center and elsewhere on campus.
“If there’s an event at OSU that warrants books being sold, we tend to hop in,” Amber said.
Grass Roots is located at 251 SW Madison Ave. It’s open 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 pm, Sunday.
By Theresa Hogue
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