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| Karen (left) and Isabelle Opper | |
Karen Opper and her daughter Isabelle Opper have launched an Indiegogo campaign to help bring an "all-inclusive independent bookstore" called That Book Store to the Wethersfield, Conn., area later this year. The pair hopes to raise $20,000 in the next 22 days. Their bookstore will offer new print books, e-books and audiobooks, in addition to an assortment of gifts and educational resources.
Opper told the Hartford Courant that the area around Wethersfield, including the towns of Newington and Rocky Hill, "does not have an independent bookstore--any bookstore actually." On April 1, Opper and her daughter will launch an online store, so they can begin selling books while in the process of opening the bricks-and-mortar store. They also intend to start an online magazine, which will be available as a reward to their crowdfunding donors.
For the past four years, Opper has been a full-time nurse at a Veterans Administration hospital, and before that was an army combat medic, serving six years as a sergeant and squad leader in the 319th Medical Detachment. She has written about books and reviewed books on her personal website for the past several years, and has reached out to indie booksellers in the region to learn from them. Isabelle Opper, meanwhile, recently graduated high school, has experience in retail and has worked in school libraries for five years.
Said Karen Opper: "I want to create a place where book clubs, and writers groups, poetry groups can meet without having to worry about other community events happening."