Around Indies

Brazos Readies to Celebrate 40 Years

Next Friday, April 4, Houston’s Brazos Bookstore will be celebrating 40 years in business. Karl Kilian opened Brazos Bookstore in 1974 with the mission of inspiring the book lovers of Houston by introducing them to great new writing and bringing world-class authors to the city.

Customers are invited to raise a glass to founder Karl Kilian and mingle with the literati of Houston as the store celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Pilgrim’s Way Named Best of Monterey County

Pilgrim’s Way Books, in Carmel, California, was named Best Bookstore in Monterey County Weekly’s “Best of Monterey County 2014” list. The bookstore, which has expanded to include a garden shop called The Secret Garden, was praised by the paper:

“This whole family-owned, community-centric shop is a garden, full of books for the flowering mind and flowers and plants and dreamcatchers and hidden pathways to help the senses blossom.”

The store opened 45 years ago as a specialty bookstore and has since evolved to carry the latest New York Times bestsellers and a wide variety of genres and non-book items.

Bookseller Campaigns for Letterpress Equipment

Alex Green, owner of Back Pages Books, in Waltham, Massachusetts, was recently featured by Boston magazine for his passion for letterpress printing. In an effort to share that passion with his customers, he recently launched a fundraiser with the goal of purchasing his own equipment.

Green is using IndieGoGo as a platform for his campaign. He hopes to raise $17,500 by April 18.

“Waltham is sort of an awesome place to do this type of thing. It’s a very supportive community,” he told the magazine. “The main focus is to actually have the press and to be able to start printing in the shop. I have a large list of projects that I would like to jump into. The way [having my own letterpress] would change things is immeasurable.”

South Main Bookstore Featured

Last October, Memphis, Tennessee, residents Jean and Clayton Andrus decided to come out of retirement to open a bookstore in their neighborhood. The couple opened South Main Book Juggler, a general new and used bookstore, in a 1,000 square-foot space, reported the Memphis Daily News. Jean Andrus, who has worked as a librarian, said she plans to have an inventory of about 5,000 titles. She’s currently keeping an eye out for popular fiction, as well as biographies and history-related titles, and is building regional and African-American studies sections. The store also carries journals, some made out of old books, as well as handmade and organic soaps, greeting cards, and other items.

Books & Brews Opens in Indianapolis

Last week, Jason Wuerfel, a 33-year-old University of Michigan graduate, opened Books & Brews, a combination-bookstore-bar, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Wuerfel learned about the business model by talking to the owners of Hudson, New York’s Spotty Dog Books & Ale.

Wuerfel used the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to raise $17,264, which helped get Books & Brews up and running. The bookstore-bar features many personal touches, including furnishings all handmade by Wuerfel. The owner also brews every beer that’s served on site.

“One of things that always puts me off about the big-box bookstores is that there’s no sense of discovery,” Wuerfel told Indy Star. “In a place like this, it’s so much smaller, so much more of a personal touch. We can direct people in much more specific ways than just, ‘Oh, here’s a horror section.’”

Main Street Books’ New Owners Celebrate

The new owners of Main Street Books, a decades-old St. Charles, Missouri, mainstay, celebrated with a party last Saturday and treated customers to discounts and refreshments.

On March 21, local television station KSDK featured a segment on the new owners, Emily, Ellen, and Andrew Hall, who bought the store on February 15 from Jim and Vicki Erwin.

Main Street Books, a general bookstore whose specialties include St. Charles’ local history and guidebooks, Western history, and children’s books, had been in danger of closing. The store’s day-to-day operations are being overseen by Emily Hall.