Around Indies

Cabot Street Books and Cards to Open in June

Downtown Beverly, Massachusetts, will welcome the long-awaited Cabot Street Books and Cards this summer, reported Salem News. The store’s opening had been pushed back due to construction delays.

The bookstore is part of the Hugo Bookstores company, owned by Bob and John Hugo, which has locations in Andover, Newburyport, and Marblehead.

Cabot Street Books and Cards will be located next door to the popular Atomic Café, and an interior doorway will connect the two spaces. The Book Rack in Newburyport, one of the bookshop’s sister stores, shares a similar setup with its local Atomic Café.

Queens Bookshop Initiative Makes Progress

Vina Castillo, Natalie Noboa, and Holly Nikodem, three former employees of the now-closed Barnes & Noble in Forest Hills, Queens, are planning to open a new indie bookstore in the New York City borough, reported QNS. The trio launched a Kickstarter campaign on April 24 to begin raising funds for the new shop, which will operate as the Queens Bookshop Initiative until The Queens Bookshop trademark is confirmed.

Following the closure of Barnes & Noble’s Forest Hills and Bayside locations, a large expanse of eastern Queens was left without a general-interest English language bookstore, Nikodem told QNS. “Together, we agreed that it was imperative to open another bookstore to help serve people on the other side of Queens.”

The store, which aims to open in 2017, will be located in a neighborhood near public transportation and will feature new releases, classics, and a strong children’s section, as well as events, including author signings and poetry readings. The team is looking to secure $70,000 in startup costs for inventory, a point-of-sale system, and marketing efforts.

“We want to be more than a retail shop, we want to be a community space where families can attend story times, or local authors can promote their work, or people can simply come together for the love of reading,” said Nikodem.

Open Books to Welcome New Owner

Billie Swift, an avid customer of Seattle’s Open Books: A Poem Emporium, is in the final stages of taking over ownership of the store from husband and wife J.W. Marshall and Christine Deavel, who last month announced their plans to retire, reported the Seattle Review of Books.

Calling Swift “a truly engaging soul,” Marshall said in an e-mail to customers, “We cannot imagine a better person to be entrusted with the future of Open Books.”

Swift’s ownership will become official at the end of August, but she will be present in the store beginning now as part of the transition. A celebratory ceremony and party this summer will mark the official transfer of ownership, said Marshall.

Cellar Door Books Honored by Assemblymember

In celebration of California Small Business Day, Assemblymember Jose Medina has selected Cellar Door Books in Riverside, California, as District 61’s Small Business of the Year. Each year, members of the Assembly and Senate choose local business leaders for recognition.

The bookstore will be one of about 80 small businesses to be honored at the California Small Business Association’s annual ceremony at the Sacramento Convention Center on May 25.

Cellar Door is also going to be featured in “The Merchants of Riverside,” a photo-essay by Benoit Malphettes and Paulette Brown-Hinds, as part of Small Business Week. A reception on May 1 at the Riverside Art Museum will feature the project. Learn more about the photo-essay project and see scenes from inside Cellar Door here.