Around Indies

Ellen Plumb’s City Bookstore Opens in Kansas

Ellen Plumb’s City Bookstore, which opened in Emporia, Kansas, on September 6, is taking a special interest in highlighting local authors, reported the Emporia Gazette.

Owner Marcia Lawrence began exploring the idea of opening a bookstore after Emporia’s Town Crier Bookstore closed. The bookstore came together with the help of HarperCollins’ New Bookstore Development Program.

Ellen Plumb’s City Bookstore features dozens of works written by local authors, though Lawrence does plan to order books by non-local authors as well. “It is really cool because local authors never get face-out, multiple copies. Never. It doesn’t happen in bookstores,” Lawrence said.

In addition to featuring books by local authors, the store will host local authors for signings and readings. The bookstore also carries cards and bookmarks by local artists and serves coffee from local venues; soon it will add regional publications, magazines, and periodicals to its shelves. “Emporia is a wonderful community with wonderful people,” Lawrence said. “We should shop local as much as possible.”

Books & Mortar Debuts in Grand Rapids

Jonathan Shotwell and Chris Roe held a soft opening for Books & Mortar in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 7, reported the Grand Rapids Business Journal. The official grand opening is planned for October 1.

The changing culture of Grand Rapids brought Shotwell and Roe back to the city after several years in Chicago for graduate school. “With the city growing, there’s this cultural dialysis going on, and with that comes the ability to sustain a bookstore,” said Shotwell.

The store will carry new titles and will adjust its inventory based on what customers are seeking, said Roe. “We want to hear what people are looking for and fill the shelves with those things. To curate a bookstore, it takes a partnership with the community to build it.”

Shotwell, who worked in the ministry prior to opening the bookstore, said he hopes to create a store that can highlight important social issues. The store will also host book clubs, author talks and signings, poetry readings, and children’s story times.

Nine Stories Finds Permanent Home in Pittsburgh

John Shortino and Allison Mosher, who have been operating the pop-up bookstore Nine Stories at markets and community spaces around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have found a permanent storefront for their shop in the Lawrenceville neighborhood, reported Next Pittsburgh.

“We kept on acquiring more stuff every time we had a pop-up,” says Shortino. “We started to realize we had outgrown the pop-up model because we weren’t able to get used books back out on the market as fast as we would have liked.”

The store, set to open in early October, will share a wall with Caffe d’Amore Coffee Company, and an interior doorway will connect the two businesses. “As a bookstore we can’t think of a better neighbor to have than a coffee shop,” said Shortino.

The store will carry new and used books and will offer a book trade-in program and the option to sell books for store credit. Non-book items will include Shinola journals and Out of Print shirts.

Avid Bookshop to Open Second Store

Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia, will open a second store later this fall in Five Points, a neighborhood in Athens, owner Janet Geddis announced in an e-mail to customers. Avid Bookshop opened on Athens’ Prince Avenue in 2011.

“It’s because book lovers like you choose to spend their dollars at Avid Bookshop that we’re able to continue to grow and serve the community,” Geddis wrote to customers.

While the second bookshop will take inspiration from the original Avid location, it will be larger and will have expanded sections for cookbooks, coffee table books, and art books, as well as gift items catering to book lovers and casual shoppers.

The new store will also allow Avid to expand and streamline its school business and its business-to-business sales. The expansion may also lead to more hours for staff and the hiring of new part-timers.

Main Point Books Celebrates New Location

Earlier this year, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania’s Main Point Books made the move to the city of Wayne after a developer offered owner Cathy Fiebach an incentive to relocate.

Saturday, September 10, marked the grand opening of the store in its new location, reported the Philadelphia Inquirer. With the help of friends and current and former employees, Fiebach packed, moved, and unpacked the store’s inventory in just one day. Saturday’s grand opening featured food, prizes, and free books, as well as discounts on books by visiting authors.

The new store, which has a larger children’s section and will be able to accommodate bigger events, will have a clear community focus. “We’re really curating the books and trying to pick a book that’s perfect for the person who walks in. And it’s a fun place to hang out and talk about books if you love them,” said Fiebach.

Tattered Cover Featured as Part of Literary Denver

C-SPAN visited Denver, Colorado, this summer to learn about the city’s literary culture and featured Tattered Cover Book Store as one of the highlights.

In a video, incoming co-owners Len Vlahos and Kristin Gilligan give viewers a tour of the Colfax Avenue location, including the store’s main sales floors, as well as the bottom-level offices and receiving area.

Vlahos shared details about the two-year transition process through which the couple will acquire controlling interest of the bookstore from current owner Joyce Meskis. “It’s been incremental,” explained Vlahos, as he and Gilligan take on more responsibility each month.

Considering Tattered Cover’s role in Denver, Vlahos commented, “We are vital to Denver’s literary scene. I’m biased, but I think if you asked other people, they might tell you the same thing.”

Sam Kaas Joins Third Place Books

Third Place Books has announced that Sam Kaas joined its staff on September 12 as offsite events manager for all three Third Place Books locations. Kass will be working directly with Third Place Books Director of Events and Marketing Wendy Ceballos and Managing Partner Robert Sindelar.

Kaas was most recently the events coordinator at Village Books in Bellingham, Washington.