Hand-drawn poster of books and the slogan Support your Local Bookstore.
Keith Huie of Mineral Point designed this year's poster.
Does one day dedicated to shopping at independent bookstores really make a difference to those stores’ survival? The answer is a resounding yes, from Madison participants in the yearly shopping holiday called Independent Bookstore Day, which always takes place the last Saturday in April, this year April 27.
“It is a humongous day for us,” says Iris Tobin, bookseller at A Room of One’s Own on Madison’s east side. The event “brings new people into the store, who are excited to spend some money on books.”
Independent Book Store Day in 2023 was the busiest day in the history of The Book Deal, says co-owner Rick Jacobs. And that was at the store’s former location, in an obscure office building off the Beltline’s frontage road. Since October 2023, The Book Deal has been open in new digs at 3822 Mineral Point Road near the Y intersection of Speedway Road and Glenway Street. “It’s a great way to move a lot of inventory,” says Jacobs, noting that Facebook event responses to the store’s 2024 event are already double those it received in 2023 at over 1,000.
Jacobs is optimistic that shoppers will find The Book Deal’s new location even though the store has yet to mount a permanent sign on Mineral Point Road (it’s in the works). Despite their relying on a small yard sign near the street, the store has already been three times busier than it was at the old location, says Jacobs.
Molly Fish, owner of Lake City Books, notes she doesn’t have much data to go on because the store has been open for only one year. Nonetheless Independent Bookstore Day 2023, which took place when her store had been open for just one week, was “bigger than our grand opening.”
For Fish, whose downtown store “does great every Saturday” during the outdoor Dane County Farmers’ Market, Independent Bookstore Day is overall a good reminder to shoppers to “get back to indies year round.”
Staff at Mystery to Me bookstore on Monroe Street also find good in Independent Bookstore Day beyond one day of increased sales. Children’s book buyer Hannah Davidson likes the community aspect. “It’s a celebration that brings bookish people together. You’ll hear people gushing about an author.” Some bookworms attempt to visit all eight stores in one day, says Davidson. “People see how each bookstore has its own style, how they complement each other.”
Mystery to Me owner Joanne Berg thinks that Independent Bookstore Day “is important for the buy local movement in general. People see how different we are from big box stores or shopping online for everything.”
Also participating are Leopold’s Books Bar Caffè, 1301 Regent St.; and outside of Madison, Kismet Books, 101 N. Main St., Verona; Arcadia Books, 102 E. Jefferson St., Spring Green (newly reopened after a remodeling); and Republic of Letters, 151 High St., Mineral Point.
Special offers and indie bookstore swag are available at all bookstores, and each store also has some deals unique to it. Noteworthy is a poster designed by Mineral Point Artist Keith Huie commemorating the area stores in this year’s Independent Bookstore Day that each store will give out free while supplies last. All stores are also participating in a joint gift card raffle with $50 or $25 gift cards to each of the eight stores up for grabs.
Other fun draws include Leopold’s offer of a free glass of prosecco with purchase, The Book Deal’s prize wheel, A Room of One’s Own’s 10% off staff pick new releases, and Mystery to Me’s $1 wrapped “mystery” books.
Fish, of Lake City Books, is hiding a “golden ticket” somewhere in the bookstore for a year’s worth of audiobooks from Libro.fm. “I don’t know exactly where to hide it yet, I have to think about that,” says Fish. But don’t worry: “It won’t be hidden in a book.”
