Magnolia & Main Books will host a grand opening celebration on Saturday, June 1, at 810 Main St. in Ridgeway, Va. The bookstore, which had a soft opening earlier this month, is owned by Traci Morten, who was inspired to launch a bookshop after noticing a brick building located on Main Street in town, the Martinsville Bulletin reported.
"I kept thinking it looked like it should be a bookstore," she said. "And that was what first put the idea in my head."
Though that building wasn't for sale or rent, Morten considered other ways to bring her bookstore dream to life, including a pop-up. During that process, however, she noticed that a building across the street from her original dream location had become available. Already having started the paperwork and securing the LLC for her business, Morten shifted her vision and began looking into the bricks-and-mortar space, the Bulletin noted. She named the store Magnolia & Main after the original building.
"I realized it was manageable and I thought 'I'm gonna try,' " she said, adding that the process happened so quickly she didn't have time to get her first pop-up underway.
"It actually turned out like what I had in my head. It looks really close to what I had pictured," Morten noted. "I want to have what people are looking for. I'll have some brand-new books, like new releases, but I want to try and keep everything in budget for our economy here--most of us can't go out and spend $30 on a brand-new book every week."
She added: "I've always loved books. Always. Reading has just always been my favorite thing to do.... I've always lived here so I haven't seen a whole lot, but I feel like I have because I've been there in books."
Morten said that the importance of local bookstores to her rests in the sense of community they can bring to the area: "We have all the festivals uptown, in Bassett and Fieldale--there's not a lot that goes on in Ridgeway. I kind of feel like its overlooked. And there's so much down here."