Indie bookstore boom extends to south Charlotte
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Photo: Courtesy of Julie Isgrigg
Julie Isgrigg has been serving readers for more than 27 years. Now she's the co-founder of her own bookstore.
Why it matters: The Reading Tree Bookshop will add another independent bookstore to Charlotte's growing scene and give south Charlotte residents a new place to gather.
Zoom in: Isgrigg and fellow bookstore co-founders David and Michelle Ebersman hope to honor the Ebersmans' late son, Sam, by hiring several workers with autism.
- Sam died in an accident several years ago. "David and Michelle really thought that a bookstore would have been the place, the kind of place where Sam could have worked and thrived," Isgrigg tells Axios.
What to expect: The Reading Tree Bookshop will be open daily. It will sell new books for all ages. The 2,200-square-foot space will include a 10- to 12-foot 3D tree in the corner of the kid's section. Isgrigg's mother is making mushroom cap floor cushions that kids can sit on during story time.
- The hope is for people to "come into our forest and and put down roots," Isgrigg says.
- There will also be book related events, community gatherings, arts and crafts nights and silent book club.
Between the lines: Fans of the 1998 classic film "You've Got Mail" are in for a treat. Franklin Fixtures, the same company that built the shelves for The Shop Around the Corner in the movie, will make the shelves for The Reading Tree Bookshop, Isgrigg says.
- "I think all of us who work in the book industry have the dream of of opening a store of our own, whether it's for that 'You've Got Mail' feeling or just the Cambridge Library," says Isgrigg, whose previous stops included Baker & Taylor and most recently Hachette Book Group.
By the numbers: Opening The Reading Tree Bookshop will cost roughly $500,000. They've launched an Indiegogo campaign with the goal of raising $20,000. Funds from the campaign will help pay for things including shelves and some inventory.
The bottom line: There's a hunger for bookish fun in Charlotte, from book clubs to book fairs and pop-ups at breweries to larger events. More than 6,000 tickets were sold for the third annual Charlotte BookPalooza at Truist Field earlier this month. It was their biggest book festival yet.
- In the spring, we reported that Charlotte's indie bookstore boom shows no signs of slowing. Plans for The Reading Tree Bookshop, plus the addition of several mobile bookstores, are further proof — as is the continued desire for connection in a world filled with distractions.
What's next: The Reading Tree Bookshop is expected to open at 7314 Waverly Walk Ave, Suite E4 in mid-December, with a grand opening in January.
Go deeper: Independent bookstores in Charlotte — and a few more within driving distance