When thinking about your local bookstore, what comes to mind? Is it a familiar friendly face greeting you as you walk in? Is it a sense of comfort and calm? There is a simple magic to independent bookstores, and they’re a refuge for many in the neighborhoods they serve, playing an important role in benefitting the community. Local independent bookstores are vital pillars in the community. Writer’s Digest states that unlike big chain stores, “Independent bookstores directly serve the community and the individual. Their contributions are invaluable… Independent bookstores support core values of community, creativity, convening, civility, and contact.” They provide a place to connect with like-minded individuals and to feel recognized in a world where we often feel like just another face in the crowd, a safe haven of comfort in our ever more fast-paced world. Booksellers at indie bookstores focus on personalized service for each individual and fostering longstanding relationships with people in the community. The Reader’s Loft, an independent bookstore in Green Bay, Wisconsin, has a mission statement that says, “Our goal at the Reader’s Loft is to create an atmosphere where people can come together to browse the shelves in search of something not yet known, to meet in our gathering space to discuss the latest book club pick, to hear poetry performed by our area’s fellowship of poets, or to meet a favorite author. We invite you to get lost in the stacks, to connect, and to grow.” Thomas A. Lyons Fine Books in Neenah,…
There’s a new bookstore in Athens, Georgia, with a different kind of business model. After four years of planning, learning, getting financing in place and finding the perfect location at 493 Prince Avenue, Janet Geddis opened Avid Bookshop this month. Last Friday night’s grand opening celebration crowded customers into tight corners and out the doors into the streets like a festival. Listen to this podcast… [Read More]
Filed Under: Athens GA, Avid Bookshop, brick-and-mortar storefront, Janet Geddis, Mary Whitehead, Neil Priest, online bookseller, Prince Avenue, True South Radio
No Comments
After the endless commencement ceremony, the cap toss, and the droning luncheons with family and friends, comes the panic-induced question asked by the college graduate: What next? Debut author Leigh Stein accurately captures this bewilderment and sense of loss experienced by so many Generation Yer’s post-college in her first novel The Fallback Plan (Melville 2012) due out in January. Esther Kohler- Stein’s Juno-esque protagonist- graduated… [Read More]
Tuesday’s Gone Local columns have featured “local” bookstores and publishers. This past year opened with Six Mile Creek Press signing a publishing contract for my clients’ manuscript, Dear Friend Amelia. Mary Jordan and Joyce Hatch collaborated with Ron Ostmun and Harry Littell at Six Mile Creek Press here in Ithaca to produce letters and images from the Civil War in a beautiful book. Six Mile Creek Press approaches… [Read More]
One of the best features of social media is how quickly content spreads. Articles, essays, videos, and blog posts that would have been overlooked become valuable sources of information. They keep me informed and aware of the world’s activity, from the complex to the inane. I find links all over the place, relying upon Twitter and Facebook as well as my e-mail inbox. I subscribe… [Read More]
Even the toughest cosmopolitans have a soft spot when it comes to their city’s most beloved bookstore. New York City has the Strand, Paris has Shakespeare and Company, and London (my favorite city of them all) has Foyles. In the last few years’ cinematic odes to NYC and Paris – New York, I Love You (2009) and Paris, Je T’aime (2006) – I was disappointed… [Read More]