Independent booksellers are an integral part of Canadian culture, and on Apr. 25 book lovers can rejoice with the return of Canadian Independent Bookstore Day.
Analog Books, Echo Used Books, and Big John’s Books will be featured in the Downtown Lethbridge Book Crawl.
Analog Books co-owner Penny Warris says the day is really just a celebration of local independent bookstores in the community.
“All the other days we support other groups and authors, but Independent Bookstore Day gives us a chance to celebrate us,” she notes.
When Book Crawl participants visit all three stores, they will get an Analog Books custom wooden bookmark.
“Every year we do more bookmarks, and every year we sell out quicker. This year we did 300 of them. We’ve got a bunch of new Analog swag this year. We’ve got some shirts, candles, socks and books,” adds Warris. “The highlight for a lot of people is the prize wheel. We have that and it has prizes from us and a lot of our neighbours. You can go and win a prize that day at their store.”
Warris says the Book Crawl is more of a community celebration, as well.
Analog Books and other downtown businesses have talked for years about shopping local. “We found people really appreciate that.”
“One thing you get in a local bookstore is a curated inventory made strictly for our customers. They really like that and it’s an opportunity for them to be able to browse the shelves and not have algorithms tell them what they might like,” she notes. “They can discover all the things they never knew they wanted. We find the support is good on that day.”
According to Warris, there’s certainly an increase in independent bookstores across North America. “Even in southern Alberta in the past year. We’ve seen four new independent bookstores open.”
“Reading is trendy again,” she adds.
The Book Crawl runs from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For more information, visit online at analogbooks.net.
