John Hoffsis has been working in Old Town for half a century now, and he’s getting a little tired these days. He says he’s not exactly the picture of shining health anymore, and it’s time to spend more time with his wife, relax and enjoy life. Now’s as good a time as any to retire, he just needs someone to take over his spot at Treasure House Books.
“We’ve had several offers and several inquiries, but I’m looking for someone that’s as committed to New Mexico authors and New Mexico books as I am, and I have not found that so far,” Hoffsis says. “The other night my wife said, ‘If you found somebody to take over the shop and put books in, you’d be over here every day trying to tell them how to run it.’ And she’s not wrong.”
Hoffsis says the only way to “break the chain” is to have a large sale in May to get rid of their stock.
The Treasure House backstory begins with John’s father Jim Hoffsis, a well-known neighborhood fixture and member of the Old Town Merchants Association and the Historic Old Town Property Owners Association. After serving in the Army from 1951 to 1953, as a technical sergeant in the Korean War from 1952 to 1953 and working for Chevron for years, Hoffsis made a move to a slightly quieter profession. He opened Treasure House, a small gift shop on the plaza in Old Town on May 19, 1974, which was his son John’s birthday. John laughs when he says he worked a twelve-hour shift that day.
Jim and Joe Ann retired in 1999. At thas point, John Hoffsis owned his own bookstore, so he moved his inventory into the Treasure House shop on the plaza, and an Old Town literary legacy was born. Hoffsis says the store has always had the same two rules: All the books must be about New Mexico subjects and written by New Mexican artists. Jim was still at the shop every day, telling his world-famous jokes and stories to customers until his death in 2021. He was a Shriner, a Mason and a Knights Templar, an active member of the Korean War Veterans Association and a frequent volunteer at the New Mexico Veteran’s Memorial. He raised and lowered the flags in Old Town Plaza nearly every day for 40 years.
“When I first started, the business was mostly tourists and then locals, maybe 60-40,” says John. “I think it’s flipped. We have 60% locals and 40% tourists and a real loyal, faithful local fan and customer base.”
Over the years Treasure House has been hosting book signings almost every Saturday or Sunday afternoon. New Mexico book lovers could meet authors, learn about their new projects and discuss their research on Albuquerque or New Mexico history. Well-known regional historians have participated in these book signings, including Loretta Hall, Richard Melzer, Don Bullis, Dick Brown, BG Burr, David Holtby and John Taylor, just to name a few. Hoffsis says they’ve seen their fair share of celebrities, too. Ethan Hawk once walked out with a stack of children’s books by New Mexico artists.
“I think the average person that lives in New Mexico has no clue how culturally rich the book community is here and how many people are writers,” Hoffsis says. “What I tried to do with this store is expose people to that. And I hope I’ve done it.”
Treasure House Books is listed on atlasobscura.com as one of the 62 Best Bookstores in the World. They won the New Mexico Book Association’s 2012 Book in Hand Award, the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards 2014 Friend of New Mexico Books Award and Best Bookstore category in Albuquerque the Magazine’s Best of the City poll in 2014, 2015, 2016, 20017, 2018 and 2019. Back in the days of the Weekly Alibi, Treasure House was ranked in the top three best New Mexico bookstores in 2014, 2015 and 2016’s Best of Burque.
Today the shelves are still stocked with writers such as J. Michael Ordenuff, author of the Pot Thief mysteries, but they’re starting to look a bit thin in places. Nonetheless, looking around the store, Hoffsis can’t help but smile.
“I’ve gotten to know a huge chunk of the local writer community, especially mystery writers and children’s writers. That’s been the big thing for me, and it’s going to be sad for me, because there’s a lot of those people I may not see, or it might be a little harder to keep in touch not having the store,” he says. “Ann Hillerman, my god, she pays all our light bills.”