Locally owned independent bookstores, once considered an endangered species, are thriving, and they’re elevating local authors.
The rise of shopping mall stores like WaldenBooks and B. Dalton’s followed by the 1990s double-whammy of big box bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders, and Amazon (which started as an online bookseller), seemed to spell the end of the independents. Between 2006 and 2009, a third of all local bookstores nationwide closed.
But independent bookstores have bounced back. In 2023, for the third year in a row, more than 200 independent bookstores opened in the U.S., according to the American Booksellers Association. The secret to their success: Creating local gathering spaces for exploring books and ideas and special events.
That’s the strategy Tombolo Books in the Grand Central District of St. Pete, and Black English Bookstore in Tampa Heights are using.
WMNF WaveMakers with Janet and Tom talked to Alsace Walentine, co-owner of Tombolo Books, and Gwen Henderson, owner of Black English Bookstore in Tampa Heights (and a Tampa City Council member), curate their shelves, connect their customers to good books and create community. They were joined by local authors L.L. Kirchner, Dalia Colon and Paul Wilborn, who are promoting their latest works with events at bookstores throughout the state.
Walentine started Tombolo as a popup for a couple of years before opening a brick and mortar store. Three months after it opened, the pandemic shut it down. So Tombolo started delivering books until it could reopen. Now, the modest space is a hub of the Bay area literary scene.
“A tombolo is a type of sandbar that connects an island to the mainland,” Walentine said. “We are connected with others through stories, and we’re connected to authors through author events and to our future selves through the growth and education we get through a book store. So community and education and personal growth are all things that can happen at a place like Tombolo Books.”
Tombolo hosts nearly a dozen book groups that focus on everything from romance, to sci-fi to middle schoolers, and bookstores increasingly are places that host weddings, business meetings and even memorial services.
“A bookstore can be a place that affects people’s lives in a very deep and personal and transformative way,” Walentine said. “We want to be a reliable place to go for respite, for inspiration and for community.”
Henderson opened Black English (named for a James Baldwin essay) last year, inspired partly by Tombolo (Walentine was there for the opening). Only 6% of independent bookstores in America are Black-owned and Gwen’s store is one of them. A retired educator, she is thrilled to see children from the neighborhood in her store. Her mission, she said, is to elevate black authors and honor her ancestors who were unable to read and write.
Hear the entire conversation by clicking the link below, going to the WaveMakers archives or by searching for WMNF WaveMakers wherever you listen to podcasts.
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