Blue Dog Books will host a grand opening celebration on September 21 at 245 S. Main St. in Springboro, Ohio. Dayton Daily News reported that co-owners Deb Covey and Josee Coyle "share the philosophy that a bookstore should be an inviting, inclusive gathering place for people of all ages." The store had its soft opening and ribbon-cutting last month.
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| Blue Dog Books owners Deb Covey (l.) and Josee Coyle. | |
The bookstore offers a range of titles as well as gift items, including apparel and totes featuring Booker, the shop's bookseller dog and logo inspiration. Blue Dog Books plans to host numerous activities, including book clubs, young adult events, singles events, book signings, writing workshops, crafts, and private events.
Covey, who is a retired elementary school teacher, previously worked as a buyer for bookstores, including the former Books & Co. in Kettering.
"This is a very curated collection, and it's because of her love and passion for all of the literary genres," Coyle said.
The owners have always loved books, and "when Covey told her family she wanted to open a bookstore, they wanted her to get a partner. A friend told her about a former student, Coyle, who always wanted to have a bookstore. The pair met at Lovely's Farm Market in Springboro, found they had a lot of similar ideas and hatched their plan," Dayton Daily News wrote.
They chose the color blue because Springboro is long associated with the color and it is calming, Covey said, adding that a lot of bookstores have animals in their names, and dogs make good reading buddies.
Before naming the store, however, Covey reached out to the family of George Rodrigue, the southwest Louisiana artist known for his series "The Blue Dog," to get permission to use the name. "The family was very kind... they said 'if you want to (use the name) that's fine, that's great because we don't have a bookstore. We have coffee shops and we have diners and everything else.' "