Around Indie Bookstores

The river's end bookstore to Celebrate 10th Anniversary

Mindy Ostrow and Bill Reilly, owners of the river's end bookstore peeking into the "Hideout," a setting especially designed for young kids to sit and read while in the store.

The river's end bookstore in Oswego, New York, will be marking its 10th anniversary on Sunday, May 18, and owners Bill Reilly and Mindy Ostrow have invited the community to come be a part of a month-long celebration.

Reilly and Ostrow opened the river's end bookstore on May 18, 1998, in historic downtown Oswego. Over the past decade, the bookstore has hosted nearly 140 authors, both nationally known and local. The river's end has also hosted innumerable authorless events, including An Evening of (Book) Lovers, Banned Book Readings, river's end readings, Educator Appreciation Night, Battle of the Books, CD release parties, and its annual Harborfest Kids Fun Run. Preschoolers (ages three to five) participate in the store's weekly Story Time.

In addition to its inventory of new hardcover and paperbook books, the river's end offers magazines, newspapers, audio books, greeting cards, journals, music CDs, coffee, and gift cards, and free services include gift wrapping, special book orders, and WiFi Internet access.

UConn Co-op Kids' Department Sports Whimsical, New Mural

Bookseller Bonnie Rose Sullivan recently completed a mural for the Children's Department of the UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut. Sullivan, who graduated from UConn last year with a degree in illustration and aspires to be a children's book illustrator, works as a bookseller at the Co-op and attends Central Connecticut State University.

The mural features a playful menagerie of animals, including mice, a flamingo, a raccoon and more, each reading a fitting title. The flamingo is engrossed in Feather Boas and one of the mice is reading Cheeses. There are also stacks of aptly titled books.

UConn's General Books Division Manager Suzy Staubach, a former ABA Board member, said, "The mural attracts and delight visitors, both children and adults."

Wooster Book Company Honored

The Wooster Book Company has been named the recipient of the 2008 Ohio Advocate of the Literary Arts Award, sponsored by the Ohio Center for the Book. GLBA Broadside noted, "The company, co-owned by Carol Rueger and David Wiesenberg, has now published more than 100 titles, and is one of the largest independent bookstores in Ohio." Wooster Book Company was recognized, in part, for its continuing sponsorship of the Buckeye Book Fair, a non-profit that has returned $194,000 in grants to Ohio schools, libraries, and community-services entities.

Bookshop's Festival of Mystery a Rousing Success

Richard Goldman and Mary Alice Gorman of Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, Pennsylvania, welcomed 49 authors and more than 300 fans from eight states to the 13th annual Festival of Mystery, which was held on Monday, April 28, at a local church hall.

Goldman and Forman reported via e-mail that "it took over 12 hours to ring out all the sales ... and it was [their] best ever festival, with a 25 percent increase in sales." Noting that 595 of the books sold were first in a series, they added, "Our past experience tells us that many of the readers found a new author and in the coming months they will be buying the other books by those writers." And the best news: "The fun and enthusiasm generated a storm of demand for more mystery books."

New Jersey Bookstore on As the World Turns

Recognize that bookstore on As the World Turns?

NAIBAhood News noted that Clinton Book Shop in Clinton, New Jersey, was to be featured on the long-running CBS soap opera on Tuesday, May 6, in a storyline that had two characters fighting over a rare book.