Around Indies

East City Bookshop to Open April 30

Washington, D.C.’s East City Bookshop will open for business on April 30, Independent Bookstore Day. To mark both occasions, the store will host a full day of events and giveaways.

“We’re planning a classic, independent, community-minded bookstore, with a dynamic selection of books for people of all ages,” said owner Laurie Gillman. “This grand opening event celebrates the diversity of talent here in our neighborhood, and our commitment to serving you — our community of readers.”

The 3,200-square-foot store is located in D.C.’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, where Gillman has been a resident for 23 years. The store will carry new fiction and nonfiction books, as well as gifts, book-related items, toys, arts and crafts, and greeting cards.

April 13 Ribbon-Cutting for Copperfield’s Novato Location

Northern California’s Copperfield’s Books will open its eighth location this month in Novato, California. A 5:30 p.m. ribbon-cutting with the Novato Chamber of Commerce is scheduled for Wednesday, April 13, and the first full day of business will be April 14.

“Community reception has been incredible,” said Copperfield’s president and co-owner Paul Jaffe. “We know we are coming into a community of readers. From the Novato Chamber to the City of Novato to the Novato School District, everyone has made us feel welcome. You can feel the excitement about Novato having its own independent bookstore and we can’t wait to open our doors.”

In addition to books, the store will carry gifts and magazines. Copperfield’s has invited Novato residents to fill out a survey detailing their literary interests in order to best cater to the neighborhood with its inventory and events.

Baltimore to Welcome New Bookstore/Café

Baltimore, Maryland’s The Ivy Bookshop is partnering with the local restaurant group Foodshed to open a combination bookstore and café in Charles Village this August, the Baltimore Sun reported. Ivy Bookshop owners Ann and Ed Berlin will work with Foodshed’s Spike Gjerde on the project, which will be located in a student housing development.

The bookstore’s inventory will be about a third the size of Ivy’s 26,000 titles, but the new venue will become the primary location for Ivy Bookshop’s events, said Berlin, as the new space will be able to fit up to 100 people. The original Ivy will continue to host smaller events. “It opens us up to a lot of opportunities that we haven’t been able to take advantage of,” Berlin said.

Culinary offerings will include sandwiches, sweet and savory pastries, and coffee, a fare similar to what is offered at Gjerde’s Artifact Coffee. The store will also carry some of Gjerde’s favorite books on farming, cooking, and the environment.

The Bookstore Marks 40 Years Under Owner Matthew Tannenbaum

Matthew Tannenbaum, owner of The Bookstore in Lenox, Massachusetts, celebrated 40 years at the helm of the independent bookstore on Friday, April 1, reported the Berkshire Eagle. Tannenbaum marked the occasion with a full day of events, including storytelling, poetry, jokes, music, food, and beverages at the store.

Now almost 70 years old, Tannenbaum began his career in bookselling in 1971 as a stock boy at Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan. “It was the key to the rest of my life,” he said. Tannenbaum went on to work with a small press wholesaler in Washington, D.C., and then moved to the Berkshires, where he bought The Bookstore with a partner from founder David Silverstein in 1976. In 1977, Tannenbaum became the sole owner of the store.

Tannenbaum told the Berkshire Eagle he credits the store’s survival over the decades to “location, reputation, and goodwill. That has just increased, and it’s completely intangible, you can’t put a dollar value on it.” Tannenbaum opened the Get Lit wine bar in the store’s used books wing in 2010.