Every Town Needs a Bookstore

What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore, it knows it’s not fooling a soul. ~Neil Gaiman, American Gods

My hometown is small. It has a three block downtown area. More businesses spill out around it. Out on the bypass, more businesses draw people. We have a big box store, a big car lot that went out of business last year, banks, restaurants, and a cluster of various stores you can see in most all towns. Once the bypass was built,  businesses moved out where the traffic was heavier.

Main Street began to slide away from the importance it had when I was a kid and most people went to town on Saturday to get groceries or shop for other needs. Three grocery stores were right on Main Street. There were ten-cent stores, drug stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, jewelry stores, pool rooms, grills, the post office, the courthouse, filling stations, and more. Things changed.

Eventually though, the town had a resurgence. Never back the way it was. Time wasn’t going to turn back to the 60’s or before. But new stores, different kinds of stores, opened. Gift shops, restaurants, specialty shops, places that might appeal to those visiting our town. And one store moved in that had never been in my hometown. At least not in my memory – a bookstore.

Bookstores, like libraries, are the physical manifestation of the wide world’s longest, most thrilling conversation. ~Richard Russo

We did always have a library in my memory, a blessing to me. I needed the books I could get from the library to feed my hunger for words. Years passed, and I put some of the words I’d gathered over the years into books of my own. Back then, if I wanted to see those books on a bookstore shelf, I had to go to another town. Klink’s Drugstore in my town did sell those early books to local readers. They were so supportive. Year later, after more changed on our Main Street, another store tried to keep some of my books on hand to sell without much success.

And then the Silvermans opened a store called Tastefully Delicious with all sorts of great food and gift items, many locally or Kentucky produced. They made room for books of local writers, including mine. At first they just had a table of books and then some shelves and then some standing book racks. Little by little they added more and more books until in May 2025, they added a store inside their store – The Kentucky Bookstore.  Recently, they turned a storage room into a children’s book area.

Gail Silverman, the force behind the bookstore, loves books and has worked hard to stock the bookshelves with books by Kentucky authors and books about Kentucky. Hence, the name – The Kentucky Bookstore.

Those of us who read because we love it more than anything, who feel about bookstores the way some people feel about jewelers. ~Anna Quindlen

I think that quote describes Gail. And me too. It’s exciting to have a bookstore right here in my hometown where people can see my books and where I can go book shopping. There’s just something about being in a bookstore.

You see, bookshops are dreams built of wood and paper. They are time travel and escape and knowledge and power. They are, simply put, the best of places. ~Jen Campbell, The Bookshop Book

Even an ice cream parlour – a definite advantage – does not alleviate the sorrow I feel for a town lacking a bookstore. ~Natalie Goldberg

For a while we did have an ice cream parlor right next to Tastefully Delicious. That store expanded into a restaurant and moved down a cross street off of Main. But if you still want ice cream on Main, you might find some in the freezers of Tastefully Delicious or some other treat to carry home to eat while you’re reading a new book.

The Kentucky Bookstore is making a push right now to get more FB followers. So check the store out on Facebook and see info about all the book signings they have and the new books that show up on their shelves. On their website, the link above, you can even order books. It’s a great way to support independent booksellers. But if you live close enough to come check out the store in person, you won’t be disappointed. It’s a fun store.

Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. ~Roy Blount Jr.

Do you like going to bookstores and being surrounded by stories and more? 

Here I am at the my book signing at the store after A Chance for Kallie Mae was released. I’m sure I’ll get to do another signing next spring when Where the Wild roots Grow comes out.