A new generation of indie bookstores – and readers – emerges post-pandemic

When the lockdown shut us all in, some took to books – to pass the time, escape from omnipresent screens or take a breather from reality. The years that followed have seen that reading renaissance blossom into a nationwide boom in indie bookstores.

“It was always this pipe dream – one day,” said Mayde Pokory, who opened Well Worn Books in Middletown, NY with her husband in September 2021. “The pieces for us started to kind of fall into place: we found a spot, we had some books, and it was kind of like a now or never.”

Since January 2020, 355 new independent bookstores have opened nationwide, said Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, a nonprofit trade group that has seen a 20 percent increase in membership. Another 294 stores are in the pipeline to open in the next one to two years, she said.

Selling books in the age of Amazon is a challenge, but clearly not a death knell. “Obviously, you can order books online – sometimes cheaper – but I think people like having a place to go where you can, you know, sit for a little while and browse through the stacks, and sometimes just find those hidden gems that you’re not necessarily searching for, but you just kind of stumble across,” said Pokory. “If you know what you’re looking for, you want to go on Amazon, order it, that’s easy. We all know people do it,” said Pokory. “But I think this fills a different need.”

Her decision to stock 90% used books means she has to move more inventory, but expands her client base. “Not everybody can afford or wants to afford a new $30 hardcover. That’s very expensive to some people. So I think being able to find maybe last year’s titles for a quarter of the price is a little bit more palatable and affordable. That’s what we’re trying to bring to people.”

Established bookstores that made it through the lockdown have enjoyed a good few years, too. “Bookstores did have a nice boost during the pandemic,” said Catherine Cassidy, who after retiring as a nurse opened Black Dog Books in 2016, now located in Lafayette, NJ. “Because they were local, there was a large push to support businesses locally so that they would survive. But also because I think people really had time to open books,” she said. “Each independent bookstore has its own personality, and I think that’s what draws people to small bookstores and local bookstores, more so than large bookstores,” said Cassidy. “When you browse, you might find things you might not otherwise find with an algorithm.”

Part of what’s driving sales, say bookstore owners, is younger readers who’ve found community through platforms like BookTok and Bookstagram.

“I always had noticed that there was really quite an interest in young adults reading certain authors that they followed religiously and were eager to get their next books,” said Cassidy. “I think that’s always been there, but more so thanks to BookTok.”

Finding community

The latest gift to the book industry is Colleen Hoover, a novelist and BookTok phenomenon whose romances are outselling the bible. In October, Hoover’s latest release, It Starts with Us, sold a record-breaking 800,000 copies on its first day, according to a press release.

“It’s incredible how many of her books we have sold, and brought in an entirely new demographic for us: young women,” said Jennifer Carlson, the new owner of Sparta Books in Sparta, NJ. “So you know, we’ve become experts in what they’ll like after they’re done reading their Colleen Hoovers,” she said. “That’s new for us and now, we got it.”

Carlson had recently taken a job managing events for Sparta Books when the pandemic hit, and the owners put it up for sale. “I don’t know, it was impulsive. We just didn’t want to see it go, so we bought it,” said Carlson, who became the new owner last August. “My husband and I, we just couldn’t stand the thought of losing it,” she said. “I’ve never owned a small business, so it’s been a huge learning curve this year.”

Founded in 1969, the bookstore is such a fixture that – along with Greene’s Beans Café next door – it’s become a stop on the real estate tour for prospective home buyers, said employee Susan Perricone. “It’s the Cheers of Sparta,” said Perricone, who’s worked at the store for a decade.

Since the pandemic, Perricone has noticed something new. “A lot of 18- to 30-year olds, oh my God. They come in three at a time, three friends, they’re all excited, they each get three books, can’t wait to share them, talk about them. They found that pleasure again somehow, that reading gave them – and a community, because they come in in groups. Sometimes I just stand here and smile... they sell each other the books,” she said.

So far, running the store – along with parenting her 12- and 9-year-old and volunteering with the Junior Women’s Club – has felt hectic, admits Carlson. “I guess because I have so much to do all the time, I feel like I’m never giving anything the attention it deserves. I’m just flitting from one to another, it feels inadequate,” she said. “But if we all have our heart in the right place, hopefully that’ll be enough.”

When she starts feeling spread thin, Carlson’s husband, who works in pharmaceutical marketing, steers her back to a formational book, Start with Why. “He’s always like, well go back to why.” Why did they want to keep the bookstore going? “It wasn’t to sell books, it wasn’t to make money – I mean obviously we have to make money,” she said. “But it was for our community. It was for Sparta. It was for our friends, and for our children, for our friends’ children. It’s a family store and it’s important.”

Reading is cool again

“I get the sense that reading is becoming – it sounds silly – popular and cool again,” said Brittani O’Hearn, 30, who opened Blue Fox Books in Walden, NY in February 2021. To her surprise, many of her regulars are teenagers. “Obviously there’s always been bookish teenagers, but it’s actually a cool and trendy thing to be reading now, and to talk about how you’re reading. So I have like a lot of young people come in here. They take photos of their book hauls, and they’re looking for really specific things, to put up on their like Bookstagram pages,” she said.

The kids’ section has emerged as one of the store’s best-sellers. “It has the most turnover, because I put a lot of work and time and love into the kids’ section,” said O’Hearn, whose son, 5, is a regular presence at the store. “I know what we like, I know what our friends like and what I think kids should be reading. So it’s just a lot of stuff that we love and we put out in the space,” she said.

So far, O’Hearn has managed to keep the lights on – and now she’s going into her best season. But it’s impossible to know what “normal” will look like, after Covid, now that construction along Main Street has finally finished.

“Some days I’m like, how can we go on like this? We can’t! I can’t do this!,” she said. “And then other days I’m like ah, this is amazing. We had such a great day or such a great event, or such a great weekend.”

A ‘mobile book experience’

“I always like to read a book a week, but during quarantine, I was inhaling books,” said Veronica Siehin, 22, of Monroe, of her entrée into bookselling. “And I was just thinking: I feel like other people are doing this too. They have to be. I had just had my son and it just hit me: books are so important and I want to do this. This has always been my dream. Why not do it now?”

As her husband and co-owner put it: “A lot of people like to read now, because TV just gets old after awhile,” said A.J. Siehin (pronounced, he offered, like “seein’ is believing.’”)

Along with A.J.’s mother, the pair opened the Dusty Bookshelf in 2021 in a shared vendor space in Monroe, operating for half a year and proving the concept. “We were meeting our dailies, I think it was $100 a day,” said Veronica. “The best part about having a bookstore is you get to talk about books all the time. Sometimes people walk in and they don’t even know what they want, they just like books. And I get to word-vomit about all the books that I love that we have.”

A.J. refers to their current operation as a “mobile book experience.” “We just kind of thought, we’re doing so well in these markets, they’re more flexible, and it’s kind of fun reaching out to the community, like going to them versus having them come to us,” said Veronica, whose roots are Guatemalan and Puerto Rican. “I strongly believe that reading is activism. I’ve always had the dream to open a bookstore and just make that accessible for everybody,” she said. “As many different narratives as I can provide, that’s what I really wanted to do.”