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Vallejo Bookstore Opens

Dariece Warren and Dave Tilton have opened Vallejo Bookstore on Marin Street in Vallejo, California, reported the Vallejo Times-Herald. The couple bought the store from Rar Farmer and her husband, Ben Rogers, who operated the store as Koham Press since January.

“We really want to build on what Rar and Ben started,” Warren told the newspaper. “We really feel that Vallejo needs a bookstore, and we feel we’re providing a service to the community.”

The new store offers a more diverse selection of new and used books, with some of the used books already coming from donations by community members.

The store, whose walls will feature rotating exhibits by local artists, will host readings and music events. It’s also dog friendly and will provide water and locally made pet treats for patrons’ canine companions, Warren said.

Greenville, South Carolina, Bookstore Finds a Home

M. Judson, a specialty bookstore set to open in Greenville, South Carolina, has found a location. The bookstore and café — a joint venture of author Ashley Warlick, magazine publisher Samantha Wallace, and bookstore owner Tricia Lightweis — will open in the historic downtown area in the former Greenville County Family Court building, which dates back to the World War I era, Greenville News reported. Renovation of the space is expected to take at least six months.

M. Judson, whose name is a tribute to a teacher and principal at the Greenville Female College in the late 1800s and early 1900s, will focus on Southern literature, books for children and young adults, and culinary literature. The store will also feature a kitchen and will draw from Edible Upcountry, the magazine published by Wallace.

The business will also benefit from Lightweis’ many years of experience as an indie bookseller. She is co-founder with her husband, Alan, of The Booksmith in Seneca, South Carolina, which is 25 years old this month.

Papercuts JP Launches Indiegogo Campaign

Kate Layte, a book industry veteran for the past 10 years, is opening Papercuts JP next month in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. To help fund the opening, last week she launched an Indiegogo crowdsourcing campaign and raised more than 10 percent of her goal of $30,000 in less than 24 hours.

Layte said that she will use the funds to order inventory, install shelving, get an e-commerce website up and running, and buy an inventory database and POS system. Other costs include securing off-site venues for larger author events, marketing, permits, and new signage.

Layte began as a bookseller at Borders and has worked for Hachette Book Group for the past five years.