Fresh off the news from the ABA that 60 indie bookstores opened in 2015, this week sees a flurry of activity on this front. New indies are opening in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Paul, and Prescott Valley, Ariz.
Openings
P&P to Open at 5th & K Busboys & Poets: Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., announced that it is expanding its year-long partnership with Busboys & Poets. On February 29 it will begin operating a bookstore in the 5th & K book sales area that Busboys and Poets has been managing itself.
Mad Monk coming in San Francisco: Ken Sarachan, who opens several businesses in the Telegraph Avenue area is about to open one more, Mad Monk Center for Anachronistic Media. The multi-use location will include a bookstore, media center, restaurant, bar, and music venue.
ARTBOOK Opens Bookstore in Hauser Wirth & Schimmel Next Month: ARTBOOK, a publisher that already has several retail locations, including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, is adding one inside the Los Angeles gallery of art dealers Hauser Wirth & Schimmel on March 13. The bookstore’s titles will be organized around a theme, starting with women artists, and will change every few months.
A Greener Read Opens Second Store in St. Paul: The company, which has numerous recycling bins for books, CDs, and DVDs in and around St. Paul, Minn., and Fargo, N.D., just opened its second retail store in St. Paul’s East Side.
Pilsen Community Books Opens in Chicago: Mary Gibbons and Aaron Lippelt began the bookstore in a warehouse loft and storage units, which they opened to the public for monthly art walks until a store front became available for their new and used store. In addition, they operate the not-for-profit Pilsen Reads, which has donated 1,045 books to seven area schools.
Grand Opening for The Book Haven in Prescott Valley, Ariz.: Paperback City, which closed on January 15, reopened with a new name, new location, and triple the space on February 1. Its rescheduled ribbon cutting was held on Monday.
Other News
‘Tumbledown’ Opens: A Love Letter to a Town—and a Bookstore: Filmed in Massachusetts, this newly released film, set in Farmington, Maine, features Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers, which is where screenwriter Desiree Van Til worked in high school. DDG owner, Kenny Brechner is a PW blogger.
Good Service, Atmosphere Keep Indie Retailers in the Game: In an ironic twist, the day before FoxTale Shoppe in Woodstock, Ga., was featured in an AP story about the return of indies and the store’s strong growth since its opening in 2007, co-owner Karen Schwettman and her husband Gene lost their home in a fire. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help them.
Little Shop of Stories to Expand: The Decatur, Ga., children’s specialty bookstore is taking over the space next door.
World Eye Buys Magical Child to Keep Downtown Storefront: The struggling Greenfield, Mass., bookstore, which held a fundraiser last summer, bought a local children’s toy store, which had also fallen on hard times and closed on February 5. Bookshop owner Jessica Mullins plans to reopen Magical Child under the same name on March 1.
Veteran Booksellers Now Owners of Southampton Books (orig. BookHampton): Two former BookHampton employees, Daniel Hirsch and Gregory Harris, bought the Southampton, N.Y. store late last year and have renamed it. Bookhampton owner Charline Spektor expects to close on the sale of the East Hampton store in a few weeks.
New York’s Specialty Stores Worth the Visit: Travel writer Nevin Martell invites readers to “geek out” over stores ranging from Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks to Singularity & Co. and Books of Wonder.
Closings
Seattle’s Worldwide Books & Maps to Close: The 40-year-old travel bookstore will close at the end of February. “For us, the availability of trip planning websites, as well as electronic books and maps, have it even more difficult to compete,” owner Julie Hunt posted on Facebook.
