Thursday, July 01, 2010

Another Bookstore Model

In today's Shelf Awareness, there is mention of a new non-profit bookstore. The viability of this idea has come up on this site before. In lovely downtown Spartanburg, SC, it's happening, folks.

The Hub City Bookshop has now opened its doors, filling its 2,000 square foot space with new and used books. It's quite an operation, from the ways it's described in this article from the local paper (Trevor Anderson reporting). It is in the 82-year old Masonic Temple Building, which also includes a 275-seat auditorium that the store can use for events and will soon include the Little River Roasting Co. and a Cakeheads Bakery, making it quite a hub, indeed. It is associated with Hub City Writers Project, which sounds a bit like Boston's own Grub Street, with classes for new writers taught by published writers, events, and other community-oriented projects.

But back to the bookstore - from the article:
“As far as we know, nowhere else in the country is there anything like this,” said Betsy Teter, executive director of the Hub City Writers Project. “We think this could be a model for a new trend in the way to keep independent booksellers alive.”
I'll be curious to see how this works out, and I certainly wish the Hub City Bookshop the best! Now folks, I've been down to Spartanburg, and I can tell you... well, I'm just real real pleased to see a bookstore going in down there, because I didn't find a whole lot to love in the town. But hey, I was just there for a conference, for a few days... a few sweltering June days.

I wonder if there is anything else quite like this around...?

No comments: