How my favorite bookstore became the center of my life

According to Google there are more at least 3,200 independent bookstores in the United States. This is how I found my favorite one. I love it so much I got married there.

I found my favorite bookstore the summer after I finished my sophomore year of college. Classes had ended but I had opted to remain on campus, unwilling to relinquish my unsupervised freedom in favor of my childhood bedroom just. I was carless back then and the summer heat was relentless but I still ventured out of my dorm room to explore the city around me. I’d spend hours on the light rail exploring different areas, visiting coffee shops, museums, libraries and restaurants. Little did I know my best find was just a 15 minute ride away.

I spotted it on one of my jaunts around town. Never able to resist a bookstore, I immediately hopped off the light rail and made my way there. The store had just opened a few weeks prior, in mid-May. The location was new but it was an expansion of another long-running bookstore in a nearby city. I hadn’t been to the first location but was already thrilled at the thought of new one so close to me.

I was greeted with hardwood floors and warm lights. There was a winebar with tables, wingback chairs and a fireplace. And of course, a huge selection of books. Through several skylights, the sun shone down on shelves of literature, poetry, short stories, horrors, mysteries and nonfiction. It was love at first sight.

I stayed for nearly 2 hours on my first visit, drinking coffee, browsing books and reading the first book that I ever bought there. The moment I left, I knew I’d found my favorite place in the world. And over the last 12 years, I’ve never stopped coming back to it.

For the rest of my college career, it was my number one study spot. I’d spread open a textbook next to my laptop and sip on iced coffee as I prepared for whatever exam or project had me stressed out that week.

After graduation, I spent weekends browsing the shelves for new bestsellers and indie novelas. I’d moved back in with my mom so it was a further drive away, but it was still my refuge. And it continued to be so, even during the pandemic when it was one of the few places I could still visit with social distancing. With my mask on, I made an appearance for every sale, always leaving with at least one new book and baked good, hoping it would be enough to keep the doors open when so many other businesses had shuttered.

And when Covid died down and families began to reunite, I decided to bring mine together by having my wedding there.

Seven years after I first walked in, my husband and I exchanged vows in front of the very same fireplace I fell in love with on my first visit. We took our wedding pictures among the shelves that I’d browsed so many times before. It was the happiest day of my life (so far).

There’s nothing better than a good bookstore. Much more than just a place to purchase and trade books, independent bookstores have served as hubs for for community organizers, a place to grow for emerging literary talent and a much needed refuge for persecuted or othered individuals. This is why it was my great pleasure to learn that these shops are making a vibrant comeback and why I so fiercely support the bookstore that I’ve deemed my own. According to a swift Google search there are more than 3000 independent bookstores in the United States. A little more 400 hundred of them opened just last year. These places are important and deserve our communal protection and support.

In the twelve years since discovering my favorite bookstore nearly every member of my family has received a gift bought from there. I’ve managed to visit at least twice a month no matter where I’ve lived in the city. Even when my reading fell to the way side, I’d still come for coffee, wine and the steady comfort of being surrounded by books and other readers. And when I finally got back into the reading it offered me a book club where I could find those things more socially. I’ve shopped there, read there, met with friends, studied for classes, prepped resumes and married the love of my life in those walls. My bookstore is a place I go to get well, feel included, be recognized and of course buy books.