Following an expansion and name change, NewSouth Bookstore in Montgomery, Ala., has further expansions planned for the next year, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
This spring, owners Suzanne La Rosa and Randall Williams changed the store's name from Read Herring back to NewSouth Bookstore and, after selling their publishing company, NewSouth Books, to the University of Georgia Press, expanded the new and used bookstore into the space that they previously used for the publishing house.
The extra space has allowed for a new section meant for young readers and more breathing room for the store's other sections. NewSouth carries a wide assortment of fiction and nonfiction along with poetry and drama. There are plenty of books pertaining to topics like the civil rights movement, Southern history, and Native American history, and there is a section featuring banned and challenged titles.
In the coming months, the bookstore will expand into an adjacent space currently being used by a clothing and gift store called AfriAmeri, which will be moving to a larger location. Williams and La Rosa expect to use that additional space for hosting events. There is also room for growth in the building's basement and second floor.
"The store is about half of the space that it will be in a year or so," Williams told the Advertiser.
La Rosa noted that when they were still running the publishing company, they operated the bookstore "with only modest effort," and while they did get bookstore customers, the business was clearly a publisher first and bookstore second. But now that they've sold NewSouth Books, they can focus all of their attention on the bookstore.
"We want this to become a hub for conversation, for people to meet," added La Rosa.