Love My Indie Bookstore with Laura, @laurapy

Love My Indie is a feature where fellow bloggers, readers, and authors share their favorite independent bookstores. I love the feeling I get when I go into an independent bookstore - like it is filled with hidden treasures just waiting for me to find them.

Showing some Indie Love today is:

Laura, @laurapy

Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Kentucky

(http://www.josephbeth.com/)

I love living in Blacksburg, Virginia. It is just an easy place to live. My kids are across the street from their school, my husband can walk to work. You can pretty much do as much or as little as you would like. The only thing missing, though, is a book store. Yes, there’s a Barnes and Noble the next town over, and a great library … but it isn’t the same. Blacksburg--you need a bookstore!

Anyway, whenever I visit my in-laws in Kentucky I try to make an excuse to get to Lexington so I can visit Joseph-Beth Booksellers. If I lived in Lexington, I’d be there. A lot.

The store is huge and filled with natural light. The entire ground level is dedicated to children’s books, and I always find something new for my kids (as well as several things to remember to get later.) The adult section is great too, with a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction, as well as a very good selection of books by local authors. They also always have neat gifts (especially Kentucky-made things), and a nice cafe overlooking a little pond.

I follow Joseph-Beth on social media and they have great events. They bring in range of big-name authors, which is always exciting, like Garrison Kellior, Harlan Coben, and Lee Smith. But they also offer all the kinds of events that create a community--a range of book clubs, stuff for kids like Lego workshops and American Girl tea parties, and host plenty of events to support local and Kentucky authors.

About three years ago Joseph-Beth was struggling and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Through hard work and dedication, its owners and staff have been able to work through that and become an integral part of their community--and a destination for me.

Thanks Joseph-Beth! I look forward to seeing you soon. 

Thanks for sharing!