Congratulations to Alibi Bookshop, Vallejo, Calif., which celebrated its fifth anniversary on Saturday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, something the bookshop hadn't been able to do when new owners Karen Finlay and Jon Burchard opened the former Vallejo Bookstore in 2019 under a new name.
After the ribbon cutting with Chamber of Commerce president Shawna Gillroy, Burchard said, "I think I have something in my eye, but I just want to say thank you. I'm so proud of all of you keeping this open. All of you were the ones that did this for us. We opened up right before the global pandemic. I've never had good timing. I could blabber on, but I'm really excited about these scissors."
Last week, Finlay spoke with the Times-Herald about the significance of the ribbon-cutting. "We didn't get one when we first opened. We talked about having one for the three-year anniversary, but we thought that wasn't right after the fire to the Pantry store nearby. So I told everyone, 'if we can make it to five years, we'll have one.' It's going to be a fun day full of pomp and circumstance."
She also recalled that Alibi Bookshop launched "just before Covid hit and a lot of stores closed during that time so we're happy. Vallejo didn't let us close. This is a celebration for us and them. It's win-win for everyone. It's our bookstore, but it's also Vallejo's bookstore. And we're going to keep growing, which is a good thing.... Since we opened we have more books in stock, more book clubs, author events. We've really grown into the community fabric."
Their customers are the thing they appreciate most about owning the shop. "It's all about less comments, more conversation," Finlay said. "We need to engage the people, have the people engaged with books. I see myself as more of a matchmaker than a bookseller. When you pick up a book, you're investing your time, you're investing your money. I love when people tell me that a book I recommended reached them and that I hit it out of the park with the recommendation. Reading books shouldn't be a guilty pleasure. It should just be a pleasure. If you read 20 minutes a day, it's been proven you can sleep better, think better and feel better."