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| Marianne Reiner | |
"I had this idea of one day, I'm going to do this as a store," said Marianne Reiner, owner of Run for Cover Books & Cafe, on schedule to open in San Diego, Calif., later this year. Reiner, who grew up in France before moving to the U.S. around 20 years ago, has had a lifelong love of both books and baking.
"I took a long and circuitous road to get here," Reiner continued, "but I'm getting there."
Located in San Diego's Ocean Beach neighborhood, the 700-square-foot bookstore and cafe will sell new books for all ages, with a particular focus on children's and young adult literature. Reiner explained that in addition to having children of her own who are 10 and 13, the store will be within a mile or two of six elementary schools, a couple of middle schools and a high school. She noted: "the children around here love to read."
Due to limited space, the cafe will essentially be a single counter that serves tea, coffee and other drinks, along with an assortment of pastries and snacks. Despite the small size it will still have a three compartment sink and space for a refrigerator, an espresso machine, a drip coffee machine and more. And due to requirements of the San Diego health department, the counter will be on wheels, though Reiner has no real plans to make it mobile.
When she first began planning for the cafe, Reiner recalled, she intended to make all of the store's pastries and baked goods herself. She even started the process of getting a license in San Diego for "Cottage Food Operations," which would allow her to bake goods at home that she could sell at the store. But then, as the process continued, she realized that wasn't quite feasible.
"No way can I come home from a 14-hour day and bake for even longer," said Reiner, laughing. "I thought, I'm totally crazy."
For the time being, the baked goods and pastries will be sourced from a wholesale bakery with whom Reiner has established a good relationship, and she's also looking into sourcing things like vegan and gluten free options from other vendors. However, should it reach the point where Reiner doesn't need to spend quite so much time in store day-to-day, she would love to be able to step back and do more of the baking herself.
Given the limited size of the store, Reiner plans to make extensive use of the back courtyard, especially for events. In addition to traditional author events and signings, she looks forward to hosting poetry, trivia and music nights, storytime sessions for kids and book-themed birthday parties. Her plans for non-book items include calendars, bookmarks, journals and cards, along with book-related products made by local artists. In fact, she intends to have a different local artist featured each month, with space reserved for their work in store, and she'd like to host an opening reception for each of those artists.
Reiner is eyeing an opening date of October 1, but her building, which was built in the 1940s, needs electrical work and has to undergo some renovations. She might have to open the bookstore before the cafe, as her coffee cart requires a level of amps and voltage that the building currently can't handle. But regardless of when exactly the store opens, she plans to be open in time for the holidays and to "hit the holiday season hard."
Reiner reported that her community's response to her plans to open a bookstore have "been amazing," and she has some data to back that up. When she started seriously looking for a location, she created a survey that, with the help of friends and family, she managed to get in the hands of 400 people in the neighborhood who she didn't know personally. She found that interest was high, and ever since, "people have been extremely supportive and very welcoming."
Around four years ago, after Reiner's mother passed away, she decided to finally get serious about making her dream a reality. She said that her mother had always been a big part of her plans and loved the idea from the beginning. She recalled coming back from France and telling her husband, "Life is too short. I can't keep saying one day I will do this." --Alex Mutter