Strand Book Store to Pop Up in Brooklyn

This spring, New York City’s Strand Book Store [4] will launch a six-week pop-up shop at Artists & Fleas’ Williamsburg, Brooklyn, location. Artists & Fleas, a community of artists and designers, holds regular markets featuring artisan food, fashion, and art in New York City and Los Angeles.

Beginning March 11, shoppers visiting the Williamsburg Artists & Fleas market will be able to peruse bestsellers, staff picks, and bargains at the Strand’s table, as well as bookstore-branded merchandise, such as totes, hats, and buttons.

Purple Tree Coffee Makes Way for New Bakery

Emily Clare, owner of Cheboygan, Michigan’s Purple Tree Books [5], is turning the bookstore’s coffee shop, Purple Tree Coffee, over to Mix & Mingle Bakery, reported Cheboygan News [6].

Mix & Mingle, which is owned by local businesspeople Brian and Sharen Lange, will take over the space of Purple Tree Coffee, which closed on February 26. The space, which will reopen March 10 with a new look and new offerings, will continue to serve as a venue for community members to gather, hold meetings, and enjoy coffee and treats.

“I feel so good about this transition. It’s very positive for me, for the Lange family, for our businesses, and, very importantly, for the community,” said Clare. “This is going to allow me to focus all my efforts back on the bookstore to improve it.”

Books Inc. Mountain View on the Move

California bookseller Books Inc. [7] will relocate its Mountain View store this summer, the company announced last week.

The Mountain View shop, which has been in its current location since 2001, will move two doors up, to 317 Castro Street, which was formerly Buyer’s Books. The new 4,000-square-foot location features all new fixtures and will allow for a larger children’s section and author event space.

Books Inc. also announced last week that it would be opening a new store in Silicon Valley [8], in the Pruneyard Center, in Campbell.

Oblong Books’ Suzanna Hermans Recognized

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Poughkeepsie Journal [9] featured the accomplishments of five “female trailblazers” in New York’s Dutchess County, including Oblong Books & Music [10]’s Suzanna Hermans.

Hermans co-owns Oblong Books, which has locations in Millerton and Rhinebeck, New York, with her father, Dick, the stores’ founder; she also manages the Rhinebeck location. “We just had our best year ever,” Hermans told the Journal. “I feel great about the future of books.”

Hermans has served on the board of the New England Independent Booksellers Association and on the American Booksellers Association’s Booksellers Advisory Council. She is the co-founder of the Hudson Valley YA Society, which supports teenagers’ passion for reading through high school, and recently launched a social justice book group to give Oblong customers and community members a venue to learn together.