Around Indie Bookstores

UConn's Suzy Staubach to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award

Suzy Staubach, manager of the General Books Division at the UConn Co-Op in Storrs, Connecticut, will receive the Lifetime Achievement in Service to the Literary Community Award, presented by the Connecticut Center for the Book, at its Seventh Annual Connecticut Book Awards on Sunday, September 21.

Staubach is being honored for more than two decades of service to the book community. She is a founding member and co-chair of the Connecticut Children's Book Fair; on the board of Curbstone Press; a past president of the Connecticut Center for the Book and the New England Booksellers Association; a former American Booksellers Association Board member; and has served two terms on the American Booksellers Foundation for Freedom of Expression.

Sam Pickering, a writer and professor of English at the University of Connecticut, who will present the award, said of Staubach: "[She] has worked hard to better the place of books in Connecticut and not simply to better the lots of readers but to create readers."

The Awards program is free and open to the public. The following reception and book signings will be a ticketed event.

Just Books, Just Grand

Owner Marion Holmes (left) and author Barbara Stretton.

On Saturday, September 6, Old Greenwich, Connecticut's Just Books celebrated its grand reopening. Despite the threat of rain from the remnants of Hurricane Hanna, customers and local authors filled the bookstore and the neighboring Arcadia Coffee Shop.

New owner Marion Holmes expanded Just Books' selling space at the back of the store, where she's created a Young Adult section. IndieBound was on display, with Next Lists at the sales counter, shelf-talkers, and rally cards on the new slat wall behind the checkout counter.

Left Bank Books to Open Second Location

Left Bank Books in the historic Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri, has signed a deal with a local developer to open and operate a second store to be located in the city's downtown area. The new Left Bank Books will be 5,500 square feet, about 1,500 square feet larger than the original store, but with similar inventory and a lively author events schedule. The store is expected to open by Thanksgiving.

Local developer Craig Heller of Loftworks, Inc. is underwriting the downtown store in a three-year agreement that gives Left Bank's owners the opportunity to buy the business at any point.

With the support of its current landlord, Pete Rothschild, and Alderwoman Lyda Krewson, Left Bank is also putting together a financing package to retool and revitalize its Central West End location. According to Left Bank's co-owners, Kris Kleindienst, Barry Leibman, and Jarek Steele, the City of St. Louis is committing $45,000 in loans and grants, and a fundraising effort by the store, which targets loyal customers as well as members of the Friends of Left Bank Books Literary Society, rounds out the fall fundraising campaign.

Left Bank Books was recently named by the St. Louis' mayor's office as one of the 2008 Neighborhood Businesses of the Year. The award will be given at a formal ceremony to be held September 19.

Mystery Lovers Bookshop Named Best of Pittsburgh

Mystery Lovers Bookshop of Oakmont, Pennsylvania, which celebrates its 18th birthday on Halloween, has once again been named to the Pittsburgh Magazine's Editor's Best of Pittsburgh! List. "In the world of handlebar mustaches, wooden pipes, and funny-looking plaid hats, Mystery Lovers Bookshop reigns supreme," said Pittsburgh Magazine. "With more than 10,000 mystery titles filling the shelves, this place has more private eyes and plot twists than a season of Magnum P.I."

Owners Mary Alice Gorman and Richard Goldman host an annual "Festival of Mystery," which this year brought together more than 40 authors and over 300 fans from eight states. The next Festival of Mystery will be held on May 4, 2009.