Saturday was Independent Bookstore Day, a national celebration of independent and local bookstores.
There’s something to be said about walking into a bookstore staffed with actual people. As convenient as ordering books online from the comfort of your couch in your pjs is, going to an actual bookstore means that although you have to go outside and you have to brush your hair, you get to interact with book people! You get to see all the other people at the store looking at books too! These are your people, these are your tribe.
Yes, it’s a little more expensive than buying from Amazon. And yes, I am guilty of buying a book at an independent bookstore only to return it later because I found it for $10 cheaper on Amazon. But what you are paying for is camaraderie. What you are paying for is the community that you can’t find on Amazon.
Maybe, if you’re on a budget, you don’t buy every book from the independent bookstore. I know it can get expensive. Maybe you buy every 1 in 4 books from the independent bookstore or maybe you check books out from the library and save up to buy something at the bookstore. It is definitely important to support local and independent businesses and what better way than to give your money to an independent bookstore.
Seattle and its surrounding areas have a lot of independent bookstores and, as they’ve done for the past few years for Independent Bookstore Day, the bookstores have taken part in the Seattle-specific Passport Challenge. The way the Passport Challenge works is that you pick up your Passport Map at any bookstore (the Map has a list of every participating store with their contact information) and when you visit the bookstore, you get a stamp on your passport. If you visit and get stamps from 3 or more stores, you get a 30% coupon good for one-time use at any participating store. If you visit and get stamps from all the bookstores on the list, then you get invited to a champions party and you get a card which gets you a 25% discount for the following year at any bookstore on the list.
The participating bookstores stretched from Bainbridge and Poulsbo to Queen Anne to Redmond to Mercer Island. That is a lot of ground to cover if you want to get all the stamps. Unfortunately, since I do not have a car and have to rely on public transportation, I decided to pick one independent book store to visit on Saturday.
I visited Secret Garden Books in Ballard.
This is a super cute and charming store on NW Market Street, right in the middle of the Ballard neighborhood. I found the employees to be friendly and helpful. There were a lot of people coming in and out of the store getting their passports stamped.
The store is a little small (but I guess when you’re used to going to Barnes and Noble, every store looks small) but there was a great selection of adult fiction books, with a lot of best sellers. There was a very large children’s section so this might be a good place to visit if you are looking for something for someone younger.
What I loved the most was all of the book paraphernalia. There were tote bags and buttons and magnets and cards. There were more tote bags and t-shirts and pens and pencils and journals and posters and just so much book related stuff that I had to stop myself from buying everything. In honor of Independent Bookstore Day, the store put out a cake for everyone to eat!
I would highly suggest you visit this delightful little independet bookstore when you are next in Ballard.
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