Local bookstores are betting community beats convenience

The big picture: The trend has played out on two fronts in San Francisco.

• New indie bookstores keep popping up around the city. The latest, the Love Potion Library, focuses on romance literature and opened in April in the Castro.
• And Barnes & Noble closed a deal last year to buy Books Inc. out of bankruptcy for $3.25 million, giving the chain a foothold in SF for the first time since 2010.

By the numbers: The number of bookstore companies in the U.S. rose 70% to 3,416 between 2021 and 2025, per the American Booksellers Association — with 73% recording a sales increase last year.

Zoom in: Events have been a huge draw at Love Potion Library, said owner Veena Patel — including "Heated Rivalry" trivia nights and book-bedazzling sessions.

• "Maybe that's something you can't find on Amazon — a community space of people who really like reading and the companionship of that," she told Axios.

What they're saying: Vanessa Lee said she grew up attending spoken word events at Marcus Books, the legendary Black-owned Fillmore bookstore. She's hoping to bring that energy to the new shop, called Chapter 3, which she's opening in the Bayview later this year, per Mission Local.

• "I saw how it brought the community together," she told the publication.

The recent wave of openings also includes a shop called Best Bookstore in Union Square, which opened in last year.

• And Mission: Comics and Arts is planning to open a second location in the Excelsior.

The intrigue: Barnes & Noble's purchase of Books Inc. hasn't been entirely drama free.

• Local retailers have accused the company of masquerading as an indie by continuing to operate under the Books Inc. name, per the Chronicle.
• It "feels skeezy," Vanessa Martini, the lead book buyer at Green Apple Books, told the paper.