Booked on 25th, a new and used bookstore, will open in July at 147 25th St. in Ogden, Utah, the Standard-Examiner reported, adding that owner Taylor Rizzi "said while she loves books, people are her passion--they'll be the focus of her store and the reason her business thrives."
"I think people want to feel a sense of community, and bookstores offer that. They bring about all sorts of different people in one location," she observed. "What I'm offering is different. It's not just a used bookstore, it's going to be a new and used bookstore. But more than that, it's a gathering spot.... I want all of Ogden's literary community, intellectual community and people who just love books to have a place to go."
Taylor Rizzi "has done her market research," the Standard-Examiner wrote. "She started with reaching out to Weber State University's Small Business Development Center and working with them to write a business plan. From there, she's paged indie bookstore owners throughout the nation for ideas. She also found a mentor in Anne Holman, partner at the King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City."
Holman said Ogden is ready for a shop like Booked on 25th: "I think it's going to be fabulous. It's going to add a whole new level of interest of what's going on there. People are figuring out it's a lovely place to be, in an independent bookstore where you run into people you know, or maybe you run into people you don't know, but find you have a lot in common with them."
"You can't let fear stop you, you just can't," Taylor Rizzi said of the future for books. "Everybody was writing off (bookstores) as something that would die out. I don't see it ever happening. There's something about the physical touch, touching something and reading it, that people are thirsty for again."