Independent bookstore First Light Books will be one of two businesses opening next year in a building in Austin, Tex., that was formerly a post office, MySanAntonio reported. The planned community bookstore will span 2,530 square feet and has a projected construction completion date of March 1, 2023.
Owner Robin Bruce told MySA that when she and her husband travel, they always seek out the best indie bookstore in town, and she plans to model First Light Books after those stores. "We really believe that they, when done well, can become places that gather the community and create spaces for ideas and connections and kind of old-school conversation, that sort of small-town feel within a neighborhood that feels harder and harder to find."
The bookstore will share the building at 4300 Speedway with a local grocery store called Tiny Grocer, which will cover 3,200 square feet Tiny Grocer owner Steph Steele said she was excited to have a bookstore as her future neighbor. "I love a bookstore. I think that it helps that they're symbiotic, hopefully it's the same kind of shopper on some level."