The Fallen Acorn Bookshop opened earlier this fall at 421 A Prince George St. in Williamsburg, Va., the Flat Hat reported, adding that the location used to house Mermaid Books, which closed in 2020.
Owner Shea Cintron previously worked as a midwife and owned a birth center and home birth practice in Jacksonville, Fla. She and her family relocated to Williamsburg in 2020. Originally intending to open another birth center, Cintron instead made a long-term dream of hers a reality.
"I had a midwife partner, and her and I, when we retired--we're both readers--we always made jokes that we were going to open a bookstore, and they're not going to wake us up at night when we're tired and grumpy," she recalled.
Cintron also noted: "Some people walk down like, 'We were intrigued that there's these stairs, we weren't sure what we were going to open the door to.' Other people know Mermaid Books, and it's funny, those people, I'm getting mixed reactions from them. Some people want it to be Mermaid, and it's not. It's very different."
Comprehensive physical renovations to the space were required, including ripping out large, old book-holding cubbies, replacing asbestos floors with tile, and adding an AC system.
To connect with the community, Cintron has prioritized spotlighting local authors and hopes to host live author events in the future, as well as form book clubs to expand the store's community.
"You can see real readers when they come in, because they're just really excited, and they stay, and they talk and they want to talk to me about books," she said. "I hope to build a community of readers--because readers are my people--and a place that people feel safe and people see themselves seen in the characters and the writers."