Weeks Co. & Lantern Lights Bookstore opened May 1 in Wallace, Idaho, the Hagadone News Network reported.
Located at 512 ½ Bank St. in downtown Wallace, the bookstore carries a general-interest inventory of new and used titles, with an emphasis on local authors and blind date book packages. Alongside books, customers can find custom apparel and a variety of gifts. In the months ahead, Weeks Co. & Lantern Lights Bookstore will start hosting book clubs, craft groups, and other community events.
Before opening the store, co-owners Cheyenne Weeks and Katie Kitchen met while working together at a bank. After they left their bank jobs, Weeks launched Weeks Co. to sell her custom-made apparel. In time Kitchen began working with Weeks to make acrylic bookmarks, and it was Kitchen who suggested they open a bricks-and-mortar bookstore. They started building a following by selling Blind Dates with a Book, and they jumped on the space at 512 ½ Bank St. when it became available.
"We knew we'd be dumb not to sign a lease," Weeks told HNN. "Were we ready for a storefront? No. But [we] knew we could be ready by May 1."
"Being in Wallace, we both felt that we needed to get those local authors here," said Kitchen. "This community, especially Wallace, thrives on that."
With the bricks-and-mortar store, they kept the Weeks Co. name and added Lantern Lights as a nod to their husbands, who are both miners. For now, the bookstore is open Wednesday through Saturday; hours may increase as the tourism season begins.