The Checkered Shelf Bookshop, which had its soft opening earlier this winter, will host a grand opening celebration on April 10 and 11 at 12419 Cedar Road in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. Cleveland Scene reported that the new bookstore is located in the space formerly occupied by Appletree Books, which closed last May.
Owner Mary Pat Jolivette said she wants her store to be an epicenter of experience: "I don't want this store to feel like, 'Oh, I'm running an errand and grabbing this book. I want this to feel like I'm coming in, it's comfortable, it's inviting. I want people to come in and spend a half hour in here."
The Checkered Shelf has installed new furniture, including bean bag chairs in the YA loft. Jolivette hopes to host readings and clubs, from crocheting circles to touring poets. The store will also be open until 9 p.m., four hours later than her predecessor in the space. "I feel like it makes this area more of a destination spot," she noted. "You can come in, spend three hours here, get a good meal, get a nice cocktail, then have a space to go after."
The bookshop offers a wide range of curated selections, new paperbacks and hardcovers, literary fiction bestsellers, and deluxe editions of classics and children's favorites, Cleveland Scene wrote, adding that Checkered "will truly be a family passion project. Two of Jolivette's six children, who were raised immersed in books nearby on Scarborough Road, will help run the store in the future."
Jolivette's goal is to keep the tradition Appletree built long into the future: "The long term model here is just connection. You have to create a space where people feel connected, connected to each other and a place people want to support and want to keep alive in the community."