Around Indies

East City Bookshop to Open in Washington, D.C.

East City Bookshop, a 3,200-square-foot general interest bookstore for all ages, is set to open this spring in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Capitol Hill Corner reported.

Owner Laurie Gillman is planning a grand opening celebration on April 30 and May 1, to coincide with the Literary Hill Bookfest at the nearby Eastern Market, a fresh public food market.

“About a year ago, I realized that I was annoyed by the fact that I had to leave the neighborhood to go to a bookstore,” said Gillman. “Then I became a little obsessed by the idea of an indie bookstore in my neighborhood.”

In addition to books, the store will sell Letterpress cards, prints, and locally made items. It will also have a special focus on community engagement by providing stellar customer service, robust events and programming, and regular book clubs in a lounge area.

New Look for Main Street Books

Davidson, North Carolina’s Main Street Books is undergoing a renovation both inside and out, funded in part by a $5,000 matching grant from the Town of Davidson, the Herald Weekly reported.

The store closed temporarily during the week of February 8 for interior work. “We are painting, and that involved packing everything up. We painted everything — walls, the ceiling, the antique bookcases,” said Adah Fitzgerald, who co-owns the store with Mary Barone. “We are considering it a refresh and not changing a whole lot about it.”

The bookstore owners scheduled the interior renovation to coincide with the building owner’s planned upgrades to the exterior, including fixing broken brickwork. “There are exciting new changes coming,” Fitzgerald said. “Once we are free of scaffolding, we will have a grand reopening.”

Clues Unlimited a Mainstay in Tucson

Christine Burke, who is celebrating her 20th anniversary as the owner of Clues Unlimited this year, recently talked with Inside Tucson Business about the decades-old institution. In addition to crime and mystery titles, the store’s inventory of more than 8,000 books includes thrillers, histories, local interest titles, and books on cooking and animals.

“I actually get a lot of people telling me that reading e-books just isn’t as satisfying for whatever reason,” Burke told Inside Tucson. “There’s just something about the feel of a book, turning the pages, marking your place with a bookmark. There’s a pleasure in reading out of a book that people want.”