With shelves stocked with self-help, New Age, and Eastern spirituality volumes, along with 12-step books from AA, Narcotics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, and other programs, Eleventh Step is one of an increasingly rare breed: a brick-and-mortar store that sells print.
(It nevertheless embraced the Internet early. Ray, a computer guy, set up a website in 1994).
Eleventh Step is a landmark for a diverse community of people recovering from alcoholism, drug addiction, or both. For their families and friends, too.
"Over the years, we've heard a lot of stories," says Ray, who's been in recovery for 26 of his 69 years.
One fellow was headed for the liquor store but took a detour into Eleventh Step. He talked with Ray and Mae, went home, and stayed sober.
Another customer who had been unable to find the store finally discovered it after getting into a fender bender on Haddon Avenue. "God has a sense of humor," Ray says.
"We've helped a lot of people," adds Mae, 56, who's not an alcoholic but who may know more about the varieties of recovery than those of us who take it one day at a time.
Married for 19 years, she and her husband live above the shop, which is neither the first nor the only store of its kind in South Jersey.
In Bordentown City, Square Peg Round Hole opened in July. Co-owner Cindy Ridolfino calls it "an art gallery and recovery store."
"There was nothing here like this," says the 53-year-old Hamilton resident, who's been in recovery since 2007.
"This is a place where people can talk about recovery without being judged," Ridolfino adds. "A place you can be accepted for who you are."
Ray remembers being snickered at when he asked a store clerk in his native California for a recovery book in the 1980s. He vowed to make Eleventh Step a welcoming place, and it surely is that.
