Bookstores

I was excited to see this post on Charlie Jane Ander's mailing list about the new wave of queer bookstores in the US. One of them is a Portland bookstore I love, Always Here Books – if it wasn't in North Portland it would give my favorite a run for their money. (My favorite Portland bookstore is Spoke and Word Books, which has the distinct advantage of being closer to my house than almost any other indie bookshop as well as half a block from my favorite library.)

When I was younger I thought about running a book store, and honestly I still do, but in a fantasy kind of way. (Or at least in a working on a fanfic where a character owns a bookstore kind of way.) Realistically I am super impressed by the people who manage to do it these days, because it's not cheap if you don't own the building.

It's interesting to think about how bookstores get started now. Always Here Books started as a pop-up and was so popular and valued by the community they ended up moving into a permanent space. Spoke and Word started as a bicycle pop-up (hence the name) that visited local events. Portland's romance bookstore, Grand Gesture Books, started by generating interest online and crowdfunding.

I guess it's good to know you've got an audience before you open up and that bookshop owning isn't limited to people who have a job or spouse that subsidizes the bookstore, but it's also kind of wild how much that idea has changed.