In a surprising switch from the usual scenario, a tiny independent bookstore on the northwest shore of Lake Michigan recently moved into a space previously occupied by a chain bookstore. Lake Forest Bookstore, which, for the past 55 years, occupied a 950-square-foot building with 650 square feet of retailing space in Lake Forest, Ill., moved earlier this month into an 1,800-square-foot building in the centrally located Market Square center vacated by a B. Dalton bookstore in mid-January

Lake Forest Bookstore was founded in 1949 by a group of Lake Forest women who were tired of traveling 30 miles south to downtown Chicago to buy their books. Current owner Sue Boucher purchased the store eight years ago and now employs 11 part-time employees, though she anticipates having to hire a few more in the larger space.

Boucher admits that she was surprised last fall when she heard that the 19-year-old B. Dalton was closing. “They were in a great space and people in Lake Forest buy books,” she told PW. “This is an upscale community with two colleges. Lake Forest really is a community of book lovers.”

Boucher speculated that the Lake Forest B. Dalton’s closing was part of Barnes & Noble’s ongoing strategy of closing many of its underperforming B. Dalton stores when their leases come up. “We’d like to say we are a part of their going out of business, but I know we’re not, that’s not fair to say,” Boucher said. “But they were less effective in recent years.”

Boucher is excited about her store’s new location. She described the building as a “really pretty site—it’s got bay windows and is in a 1900s building. Market Square is considered one of the first malls in the United States. They’ve rehabbed it; it is quite nice.”

The recent move will allow Boucher to double her current inventory of 30,000 titles. But, she emphasized, “We’re not going to cram the space with books, like B. Dalton did. We’ll create some space. We’ve never had space before, it’s exciting to have some room to move around.” She intends to use the extra space to hold author events and storytelling hours for children in the store.

Boucher is adamant about creating a space for children’s books and events, which will allow her to expand the bookstore’s outreach into the local schools and community. “We want to be a center where people can gather,” she said. “We want to create a warm, comfortable space where people can come, bring their kids, sit down and stay a while.”