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| General manager Amy McClelland with co-owners Lisa Lamberson and Annette Avery. | |
Congratulations to Bright Side Bookshop, Flagstaff, Ariz., which celebrated its fifth anniversary on Monday "with a day full of activity to 'surprise and delight' our amazing loyal customer base," noted Lisa Lamberson, co-owner of the business with her husband, Ben Shaffer, and Annette Avery.
"We're proud to say we've realized our intentions of developing a dynamic and versatile space for community interaction and events," Lamberson added. "Bright Side Bookshop is a gathering space for locals and visitors alike in the heart of Historic Downtown Flagstaff and we're so grateful for these five years of tremendous support. We're looking forward to many, many more years serving our mountain town as the local indie bookshop."
Bright Side's way "was paved by another local bookstore--Barefoot Cowgirl Books--opened by Nancy Nelson in 2015, " the Arizona Daily Sun reported.
Lamberson, who at the time was focused on her other business, Mountain Sports, recalled that Nelson had the "tenacity and bravery" to bring an independent bookstore back into downtown Flagstaff. "As a neighbor and downtown business just down the street, I was so excited to have a local bookstore back in town," she recalled. Unfortunately, Barefoot Cowgirl failed to thrive and in 2016 was put up for sale. Lamberson, spurred by a desire to "save the local bookstore," asked friend and co-worker Annette Avery, half-joking, if she wanted to try to buy it with her.
"What followed was the right mix of gumption, stick-to-it-iveness, and 'not knowing enough to know better,' " Lamberson told the Daily Sun, which added that the two women, along with Shafer, "pooled their resources and dove headfirst into the process of buying the bookstore, just waiting to see if a door would close along the way. But no door ever closed, and two months later the team was handed the keys to the bookstore in February 2017. They chose the name Bright Side Bookshop to reflect the optimism embraced by the three owners."