Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews to Open in Chapel Hill

Epilogue: Books Chocolate Brews, an independent bookstore and Spanish-style chocolatería, will open this summer at 109 E. Franklin St. in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Daily Tar Heel reported that co-owners Miranda and Jaime Sanchez will offer a menu that "includes cups of chocolate and Latin street foods, like churros and pan dulce, from family recipes. Craft brews and wine will also be served."

Miranda Sanchez cited the closing of The Bookshop on Franklin Street in 2017 as an incentive for the new store because she felt the area lost a place where people could pause during a busy day. "We're kind of like if The Bookshop and Cocoa Cinnamon had a love child," she said.

According to Epilogue's website, "each new book--and almost every used book--in our shop has been handpicked for our community to inspire conversation, expand upon our lived experiences, and invigorate our minds. Small presses and lesser-known authors comprise the bulk of our new book selection while our used book selection is more wide-ranging. We hope to continue growing and tailoring both of these categories with your input and support."

Epilogue "aims to foster community in the heart of Chapel Hill. It is a place for people to gather, whether to cultivate new ideas, learn old ones, or escape into the welcoming atmosphere that books, chocolate, beer, and coffee all provide."

"That's really what it is, it's just about fostering community," Miranda Sanchez observed. "We as a community need to foster that type of environment, that energy that comes from being able to pause."

Jaime Sanchez said they put the cafe in a Spanish-style chocolatería because they were inspired by the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, Spain: "Everybody hangs out there and on Saturday, doing the weekend thing with the family, they go eat churros and chocolate. We wanted to bring that type of community space to Chapel Hill.... We wanted to bring that sweetness of joint culture to Chapel Hill. There's not a panadería (bakery) here, now there's going to be."

Matthew Gladdek, executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, said, "I think what we can tell from good local bookstores is that they can really connect with the community. They offer a level of service and recommendation in books that creates a really vital space that people want to be in."

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