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Around Indies [5]
Here’s what’s happening in the world of indie bookstores this week:
New Orleans bookstores celebrated Independent Bookstore Day [6] on May 12, so as not to conflict with the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 28, when more than 500 stores in the rest of the country marked the day. Octavia Books [7], Garden District Bookshop [8], Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop [9], and Blue Cypress Books [10] planned special activities for the day and banded together to offer readers a chance to win $100 gift certificates.
San Diego’s Mysterious Galaxy [11] opened a small brick-and-mortar location [12] in Redondo Beach, where the store previously operated a second location. The new store, Creating Conversations, will offer books as well as events.
amNewYork [13] talked with Noëlle Santos, who’s aiming to open The Lit. Bar [14] in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx this summer.
Mobile, Alabama, bookstore Bienville Books [15] has been purchased by employee Angela Trigg [16], who will change the store’s name to The Haunted Bookshop. Trigg’s grandmother co-founded the original Haunted Bookshop in Mobile in 1941; it closed in 1991.
Following the announcement that longtime BookPeople [17] CEO Steve Bercu planned to retire [18], Elizabeth Jordan has been named the new CEO of the Austin, Texas, bookstore, effective June 2. Jordan has worked at BookPeople since 2002 as a bookseller, manager, adult book buyer, inventory operations supervisor, and, most recently, general manager.
The Doylestown Bookshop [19] in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is celebrating its 20th anniversary on Saturday, May 26.
St. Charles, Missouri’s Main Street Books [20] turned 25 on May 15 [21]. Emily Hall, who co-owns the store with her parents, Ellen and Andy, said they’re planning a July celebration.
Village Books [22] in Bellingham, Washington, will be home to a new café this summer [23] when Evolve Chocolate owners Christy Fox and Shannon Fox take over the former Book Fare Café on the building’s third floor. Evolve Chocolate + Cafe will offer sandwiches, soups, coffee, and chocolate.
Vroman’s Bookstore [24] and Book Soup [25] are partnering with the Journal of Alta California [26], a quarterly print and online magazine that shines a spotlight on the arts, culture, literature, and history of California. Through the partnership, the stores will collaborate with Alta for in-store events and promotional campaigns.
Lonely Planet [27] featured “9 children's bookstores worth traveling for,” including Brooklyn’s Stories Bookshop and Storytelling Lab [28]; New York City’s Books of Wonder [29]; Raleigh, North Carolina’s Read With Me [30] children’s book and art shop; Wild Rumpus [31] in Minneapolis; Second Star to the Right Children’s Books [32] in Denver; and Children’s Book World [33] in Los Angeles.
The Washington City Paper [34] reported on D.C.’s indie bookstore renaissance and featured East City Bookshop [35], MahoganyBooks [36], Duende District Bookstore [37], Upshur Street Books [38], Solid State Books [39], and Politics and Prose [40].
MarketWatch [41] talked with Upshur Street Books [38] in Washington, D.C., for an article on stores that have thrived amid the retail apocalypse.
Susan Novotny of The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza [42] in Albany, New York, talked with the Albany Business Review [43] in a video segment about surviving in the age of Amazon.
A columnist for the Taunton Gazette [44] visited Titcomb’s Bookshop [45] on Cape Cod and praised its friendly staff, perfect bookstore smell, and variety of both books and non-book items.
The Dodo [46] shared an array of photos and anecdotes about Spike, the cat who made Left Bank Books [47] in St. Louis, Missouri, his home nearly 11 years ago.
Share your news in Around Indies! E-mail [email protected] [48] with photos and details of what’s new at your store, whether it’s opening for business, moving to a new location, expanding, changing ownership, hosting a special event, or celebrating a milestone anniversary.