What’s in a Name?: A Cappella Books

The origin of the name A Cappella Books for a new and used bookstore in Atlanta, Georgia, comes from owner Frank Reiss’ love of music and his personal sense of reverence for books and bookselling.

When Reiss opened A Cappella in 1989, choosing a name was simple: he wanted a musical term beginning with the letter A.

“I began my bookselling career in the ’80s at an antiquarian bookstore in San Francisco called Acorn Books, and one of the main things I learned there was the importance of having your store name start with the letter A, especially in the days of the Yellow Pages,” said Reiss.

In the 1980s and early ’90s, said Reiss, many stores chose A-names so their telephone numbers would show up first in the phone book, an alphabetical technicality no longer meaningful in the Internet age.

“I wanted the store to have a musical name because I love music, and I intended from the very beginning to carry a lot of books about music and to some extent feature music in the store,” said Reiss, who was in a band when he started at the now-shuttered Acorn Books. In the store’s early days, he said, A Cappella Books also regularly hosted in-store acoustic music performances, a practice he hopes to restart.

“A cappella,” which technically means to sing without accompanying instrumentation, comes from the Italian word meaning “in the manner of the chapel.” Etymologically, said Reiss, “I also kind of liked the sense of reverence it lends to the idea of what we do, which is selling books.”

Early on, customers would often ask why a store that sells books had such an unmistakably musical name, and newcomers still do, said Reiss. So he thought of yet another connection. “In the beginning the name also seemed to fit since it was just me ‘without accompaniment’ opening up a little bookstore,” he said.

A Cappella is still a good name, said Reiss, since the store’s focus on music has endured over the last 27 years as it has grown into a beloved Atlanta institution. These days, the store employs some whimsical marketing touches that relate to its musical focus, like the store’s VIP membership club, which is called the “Choir.”

Frank Reiss, owner of A Cappella Books

“From the beginning, our music section has been among the largest sections that we have. It confuses some people because the books there aren’t all about a cappella music: there are books on folk, blues, country, rock, jazz — basically everything but a cappella,” said Reiss.  “We’re always playing good music in the store, and we cater to a lot of people who are local musicians. We’ve also had a fair number of famous musicians, like Patti Smith and Elvis Costello, come into the store over the years. Musicality has remained a constant.”