Court Street Books hosted its grand opening March 9 at 610 S. Court St. in downtown Florence, Ala. The Flor-Ala reported that the celebration featured food trucks, giveaways, and "was a huge success. After the grand opening, the store took a few days to recuperate, and they now are back to normal hours."
The bookstore, owned by Karmen Somers and Dr. Wayne Melvin--who also owns Tennessee Valley Pediatrics--"is something they always knew they wanted to create; they call it their passion project, and have planned it with so much love and care," the Flor-Ala noted.
Originally planning to open in November 2023, the owners instead opted to give themselves some extra time to make the store have the cozy and warm feeling they envisioned. Court Street Books will offer new and used books and have a coffee shop featuring local roasters. There is also a meeting room that can be reserved.
"We are absolutely blown away by the support we felt today," the co-owners posted on Facebook after the grand opening. "From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU--to Shoals friends who came out, to those who traveled from far and wide to support us, to @smashed_llc and @_wandercoffee, and to those who pulled extremely long hours to get us ready to open today. We could not be more grateful to be part of such a vibrant, caring community."