A Novel Adventure, Boise, Idaho, "has opened a new chapter at an old bookstore," according to the Idaho Statesman, which reported that "the location is in the former home of the Book Shop, one of Idaho's oldest bookstores, and has since been occupied by Book & Game and Boise Book & Gift Co." A grand opening celebration is being held this week.
"Our families had been looking at getting a small, local business for quite some time," said Mike Rainey, who owns the bookshop with his wife, Becky, and her sister and brother-in-law, Monica and Josh White. "When an independent bookstore right in the heart of downtown Boise became available, everyone knew that it would be the right choice. . . . There has been a bookstore in this general location since 1869."
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Appalachian State University's student newspaper, the Appalachian, gave high marks to indie bookstore Black Bear Books, Boone, N.C. "The atmosphere is more academic and intellectual," sophomore Carley R. Nobles said. "It's a nice change from being on campus, and has different things available."
Assistant manager Erin M. Thompson praised the bookshop's selection and staff: "We have very different tastes . . . When a customer walks in looking for a mystery, or a romance, or literary fiction, the staff will give a great recommendation. . . . Books are a great escape. You can spend ten dollars, and get a week of relaxation and value from it."
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The Bookworm bookstore, Frisco, Tex., is closing imminently, the Dallas Morning News reported. "The biggest contributing factor is the impact of the economy on people's shopping habits," owner David Norwood said of the shop that opened in 2006. He added, "For what it's worth, I'm trying to encourage as many people as we can to visit Legacy Books [Plano, Tex.]."
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For members of the Indie Community, IndieBound.org has introduced a new Wish List feature that "allows anyone to build a list of books and e-mail it to friends and family, along with a list of their favorite bookstores," Bookselling This Week reported.
"It's the viral potential of these lists that's most exciting to me," said Matt Supko, ABA's web content coordinator. "They empower 'true believers' to share IndieBound with friends and family at a time when those audiences will be most receptive to it."
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BTW also profiled Claudia Colodro and Liz Garo, who "have pooled their collective experience to open STORIES, a new and used general bookstore with an outdoor patio and cafe in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The store will hold its opening kickoff party on Saturday, November 15."
"We hope that STORIES will contribute to the Echo Park neighborhood and that it will cater to both the long-standing Latino community and the new hipster demographic," said Garo. "I think the used books will be a big bonus for everyone."
STORIES is located at 1716 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, Calif. 90026; 213-413-3733; storiesla.com.
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The ABA has named 27 booksellers as recipients of publisher-sponsored scholarships to the American Booksellers Association's Fourth Annual Winter Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah, January 29-February 1. You will find the complete list here.
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The results are in from the Guardian's contest--inspired by the litblog Bookninja--to "redesign classic books for a dumbed-down era" (Shelf Awareness, October 30, 2008). And the winner is A Tale of Two Cities, though it must have been hard to resist Homer Simpson's Iliad.