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Solid State Books to Open in D.C. This Fall

Jake Cumsky-Whitlock and Scott Abel, two longtime managers at Washington, D.C.’s Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café, will be opening Solid State Books in Northeast Washington this fall, reported the Washington Post.

The 4,300-square-foot store will be located in the Apollo building, by a Whole Foods; it will feature a café as well as an event space with seating for up to 100.

“This area is perfect for a bookstore,” Cumsky-Whitlock told the Post. “There are so many families, children, and young people, and yet there’s a giant hole when it comes to books.”

Like Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, Solid State earned some of its startup funding through community lenders, which contributed anywhere from $1,000 to $25,000 toward the opening of the store, to be paid back by the co-owners over the next six years.

Norwich Bookstore Celebrates 23 Years

Norwich Bookstore on its 23rd birthdayOn Saturday, August 5, the Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vermont, marked its 23rd birthday with a storewide sale, cookies and lemonade, and a grand prize drawing for this year’s celebration of Find Waldo Local.

Owners Penny McConnel and Liza Bernard said that while they are not yet ready to retire from the business, they are beginning to explore succession possibilities. “Our goal is to set the pieces in motion for a smooth transition into the right hands,” they said in a statement.

The Norwich Bookstore opened on August 1, 1994, in the central Vermont village of Norwich, just two miles from Dartmouth College.

Novel Books Named Best Bookstore in County

Clarksburg, Maryland’s Novel Books has been named Montgomery County’s best bookstore by Montgomery Magazine.

“It’s a true honor, because Kensington Row Books and Second Story Books are historic icons in this area,” said owner Patrick Darby.

Last December, Darby was also named Clarksburg Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Leader for his work in the community and toward economic stimulation, through programs such as Find Waldo Local and Small Business Saturday, for which Novel Books served as a Neighborhood Champion.

DeAndra Beard Wins Community Service Business Award

DeAndra Beard, who founded the Beyond Barcodes multicultural bookstore and Beyond Borders Language Learning Center in Kokomo, Indiana, was awarded the community service business award by the Indiana Black Expo’s Kokomo Chapter.

Board Member Ed Foster said of Beard, “She is passionate about working to create common ground and connect with the world through the study of language and culture. In 2016, to further expand the mission of intertwining cultures, Beard opened a multicultural bookstore, Beyond Barcodes Bookstore. Alongside the bookstore, she also created Bind Café, which has already seen several local- and state-recognized awards.”

Also at the ceremony, Mayor Greg Goodnight declared July 27 to be “Kokomo Chapter Indiana Black Expo Incorporated Day.”