Around Indies

BookHampton South Finds New Owners

Charline Spektor, owner of BookHampton, which has two locations on Long Island, New York, has sold the Southampton bookstore to new owners Daniel Hirsch and Gregory Harris, reported East Hampton Patch.

Hirsch and Harris “teamed up and will be opening their new bookshop (same location: 16 Hampton Rd.) this weekend!! I couldn’t be prouder of those guys — they’re going to keep the tradition of great books going in Southampton,” Spektor wrote on Facebook.

Last month, Spektor announced that she planned to close the stores after the holiday season. “I want to focus all my energy on the nation’s gun violence crisis, and be able to fully participate in reclaiming our country’s sanity and safety,” she said. “I had to make a choice.”

Spektor is still seeking a buyer for the East Hampton location.

BookBar Opens Bed and Breakfast

Denver, Colorado’s BookBar officially opened its new author and book-lover bed and breakfast, BookBed, on November 6.

Denver magazine 5280 showcased the newly renovated apartment, which sleeps four and features book-themed amenities throughout, such as shelves stocked with Indie Next List titles that can be added to the final bill like a minibar purchase.

The apartment is available for rental through the bookstore or through Airbnb for $150 a night. It has a queen-size bed, full kitchen, washer and dryer, and private balcony, and includes free daily breakfast from Denver Biscuit Company.

Second Star to the Right Nurtures Young Readers

This week, 5280 magazine also highlighted Second Star to the Right, a children’s bookstore on Tennyson Street in Denver, which Dea and Marc Lavoie opened just a year ago.

“We wanted to create a fun and nurturing place to read,” said Dea Lavoie. “Kids are encouraged to walk around, take books out, and touch them. Parents can relax. We can put all of the books away later.”

The shop sells new and gently used books and offers yoga classes, pillows and nooks for reading, and tutoring sessions in reading and math with the Lavoies, who both taught in the Jefferson County School District before opening the bookstore.

Story times, which are held in the front yard in the summer, are also conducted in French and Spanish and often feature a local guest reader such as a police officer or dentist. “We want to expose children to lots of different things through books,” said Dea Lavoie.

Mitch Kaplan Reflects on Books & Books’ Success

Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan recently talked with Racked Miami about the many years he has spent at the helm of the south Florida bookstore, which he opened in 1982, and the book culture of Miami as a city, which was just taking off when he arrived on the scene.

“I was very fortunate that I was interested in literary culture at a time when literary culture was on the precipice of growing,” said Kaplan. “I could be a part of helping my own hometown develop into something more than what it was when I left [for law school]. It’s been a wild, beautiful ride.”

Books & Books, which was named Publishers Weekly’s Bookstore of the Year in 2015, now has locations throughout Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, and beyond.

“It’s all about place,” said Kaplan about how he created such an engaging indie bookstore. “I’m not just a retailer. For me, it’s the sense of community and I think that’s a part of the formula. The formula, it’s not something you can manufacture. It has to come from a place, real and genuine. It’s almost like being a writer. You have to have a real and genuine voice. As a retailer, you have to have a genuine voice as well. I think authenticity is really what people respond to.”

Kaplan is also a co-founder of Miami Book Fair International, which has grown since its first event in 1984 into an eight-day literary festival that attracts countless award-winning authors. Kaplan is currently chair of the fair’s Board of Advisors.