Last summer, Susan Murphy thought she had found a place to open a bookstore in Detroit, Mich. When that location fell through, Murphy decided that she'd open her store, Pages on Livernois, anyway, as a roving pop-up shop. Her plan was to build support for and raise awareness of the bookstore as she looked for a suitable building.
"The main reason I opened a bookstore is that literature changed my life," Murphy said. Although she has never worked as a bookseller before, she has an extensive business background (in IT, finance, management and teaching; recently she founded a small market research company), as well as a library science degree. "I didn't grow up in a family that read. I realized in high school that there was great literature out there. Reading has opened so many cultural doors for me."
Her decision to open a bookstore, then, came from her love of books and her desire to do something for Detroit. "The city has no new, general booksellers," she explained. Although she doesn't live in the city itself, she works in midtown Detroit and has always lived in the greater Detroit area. "They need one."
Around the beginning of this year, Murphy found a permanent location in a neighborhood in northwest Detroit called Sherwood Forest. The building, which is currently undergoing renovations, is on Livernois Avenue between 7th Mile Road and 8th Mile Road; historically, that stretch of Livernois was called the Avenue of Fashion. "Years ago it was all high-end retailers," Murphy said. "The retail district got run down, but the neighborhoods around there are very stable."
Renovations should be finished in early fall, and Murphy plans to move in shortly afterwards. Though the exact floor plan is still unclear, she'll have between 1,000 and 1,200 square feet in which to expand her current inventory. At the moment, she carries primarily classic and contemporary literature at her book stall, along with some biographies, children's books, a smattering of hardcover books and Detroit-related books. Murphy is also considering creating a small used section once she moves, but at present her inventory is all new.
In her efforts to build awareness for the bookstore, Murphy has set up her pop-up shop in locations all around the city. Before last year's holidays, it was installed in downtown Detroit; she has two appearances scheduled for July in Detroit's midtown/cultural district, and her current base of operations is at the Rust Belt Market in Ferndale, just outside Detroit. On June 20, in fact, she held her first author event ever, for an art book called Canvas Detroit that was written by Julie Pincus and Nichole Christian and published by Wayne State University Press this spring. Good Cakes and Bakes, a local bakery, agreed to host the discussion. Murphy has another author event scheduled for August 1 in a different part of the city, and is working on organizing two more.
So far, the response has been enthusiastic and encouraging. Detroit's population of artists and writers, Murphy related, are particularly excited. "The general reaction I get is that Detroit is starved for books," she said. In addition to artists and authors, community organizations are similarly excited. "They're happy to have a bookstore in the neighborhood." --Alex Mutter
