Something Good In The World: Let’s Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day This Weekend

I was going to constitute thing other for today’s column, thing complain-y but righteous that would let maine to get immoderate worldly disconnected my thorax and possibly moreover get immoderate rage clicks. Shit is bad. But I’m truthful tired. Maybe you are too. So why don’t we observe thing bully that’s coming up instead, conscionable for a small alteration of pace?

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This Saturday, April 26th, is Independent Bookstore Day. Each twelvemonth astatine nan extremity of April nan American Booksellers Association runs nan event, pinch 1,600 bookstores crossed nan state participating successful 2025. I implore you: if you unrecorded adjacent an indie bookstore (and I cognize that galore of america still don’t and I dream 1 time we each do), you must go.

Ten years agone I received an email from nan then-head of events astatine Housing Works Bookstore successful Manhattan explaining that she was helping to shape New York City’s first effort to spell each successful for nationalist indie bookstore day. It would beryllium a corporate effort pinch Housing Works joining workers from Greenlight, WORD, McNally Jackson, Community, and BookCourt (BookCourt is nan only 1 that nary longer exists, but erstwhile BookCourt bookseller Emma Straub opened Books Are Magic connected Indie Bookstore Day successful 2017).

There would beryllium nosy events and typical guests and exclusive merchandise astatine each shop and readers were encouraged to sojourn them all, pinch an afterparty astatine Powerhouse Books co-hosted by Jami Attenberg, Emma Straub, and Angela Flournoy. Indie Bookstore Day has been a overmuch anticipated yearly contented for maine ever since.

Here’s much bully news: this is not conscionable a New York City endeavor. Despite Amazon’s champion efforts to obliterate mini section businesses, we’re seeing a resurgence successful bookstores crossed nan country. According to Publishers Weekly location were 1,409 indie bookstore members of nan ABA successful 2009, down from 5,500 bookstores successful 1995. But successful 2024 USA Today reported that rank successful nan ABA is coming backmost pinch 2,500 independent bookstores registered and rank increasing by 11 percent successful 2023 pinch 291 caller bookstore openings.

Forgive maine for being 1 of those group who gets a small complete enthusiastic astir indie bookstores. I cognize that they’re not uniformly Good for nan World. I cognize immoderate shops person their problems, which I dream will beryllium ameliorated as more and more indie bookstores unionize. But there’s thing for illustration a thoughtfully curated bookstore—even if it’s a small cluttered—to make maine want to publication everything.

There are shops wherever I cognize precisely which array successful nan beforehand near broadside of nan shop will person books that will entreaty to maine that I haven’t heard of, and location are stores wherever I spot nan unit recommendations implicitly. There are stores wherever I tin linger complete a book pinch a cup of coffee, or, increasingly, pinch a glass of wine. There are indies wherever I cognize I tin show up astir 7pm for immoderate benignant of reference aliases arena and cognize I will beryllium entertained and moreover enlightened. What a beautiful measurement to build a societal life.

The merch this twelvemonth for Indie Bookstore Day is great, pinch tote bags and T shirts designed by celebrated cartoonist Adrian Tomine. There will besides beryllium plentifulness of different exclusives astatine various stores. And for readers who don’t unrecorded adjacent a bookstore that speaks to them there’s Bookshop.org for online orders and Libro.fm for integer audiobooks.

Need recommendations for what to bargain astatine your section bookstore? Here are conscionable a fewer books published this April that you should cheque out: Fish Tales by Nettie Jones, Searches: Self Hood successful nan Digital Age by Vauhini Vara, Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory, Fair Play by Louise Hegarty, and To Save and Destroy by Viet Thanh Nguyen. But don’t return my connection for it; inquire your nearest bookseller IRL!

If you’re for illustration me, nan past 100 days person been sadistic successful conscionable astir each measurement imaginable and it’s difficult to ward disconnected feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. At this infinitesimal Amazon can’t thief you, but your indie bookstore can, aliases moreover your section room (I wholly get it if you don’t person a dollar to spare for books!), aliases really anyplace you tin spell and speak to your neighbors. If you’re not judge what you tin do correct now to make a quality successful nan trajectory of our country,  this is an easy win. Go retired connected Independent Bookstore Day and look around, support a section business and possibly moreover publication a book aliases two.

This twelvemonth 26 stores adjacent maine are participating successful a Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl pinch events starring up to Indie Bookstore Day connected Saturday. Four caller stores are joining for nan first time. I person been looking everyplace for hope, and I americium reasonably definite I’ll find it successful 1 of them.