Next Tuesday, April 3, Tracey Bowes will open Pressed, a bookstore and coffee shop, in Erie, Pa., Bookselling This Week reported. The 4,000-square-foot store will sell new books and gifts and have a large children's section that will feature a lifelike tree with a secret cubbyhole.
Pressed will be in a shopping plaza that includes a pizza restaurant, a home décor store, a popcorn store and a chiropractor. Bowes, a former lawyer with four children, told BTW that her husband had purchased the plaza property for his manufacturing company but instead developed the site into commercial space.
"I've always thought it would be a wonderful thing to own and run a bookstore and how wonderful it would be for the community," Bowes said. "What really made it happen was that we own a plaza, and we had space free. It's what I've always dreamed of doing, so if I'm ever going to do it, now is the time."
She aims to hold many activities and events, including author visits and book clubs for both adults and children of all ages. The area has many families and students at local colleges.
"I want to have a one-stop shop where people in Erie can go to find a perfect gift," Bowes said. "It may be a book and it may be some other type of item. I feel like in Erie there aren't that many unique places to find a gift. We have a lot of chains and we have a handful of really great small retailers, but there aren't that many, so I'm looking forward to adding to that."
In setting up the store, Bowes got help from Paz & Associates, the ABA's Booksellers Forums and the fall NAIBA conference.
Pressed is located at 1535 W. Eighth St., Erie, Pa. 16505.
