We’ve got news!
Pssst: We’ve got some big news here at our little bookshop…
Dear reader,
Imagine a warm splash of sunlight on old oak floors, a riot of colorful picture book covers, and a passel of babies crawling around at Saturday morning storytime — I personally can’t think of a happier space than our children’s nook at Old Town Books.
Our back room is a cheerful, peaceful space. And like so many young readers, it’s bursting full of potential. Potential for a kid to discover the first book in a new beloved series, or a grandparent to find a sweet baby gift, or a tween to grab a page-turning graphic novel. There is magic compressed into those few shelves, but space is tight.
Our current kids section.
Charming but a tight squeeze!
Which is why I’m delighted to announce our new, bigger and better kids and young teen section coming summer 2024!
It’s an understatement to call it a “new section,” though, when in reality we’re building out an entire kids bookstore. The new space will expand our shop into the other half of our beautiful historic 1840s brick building. Old Town Books will now occupy both 128 South Royal and 130 South Royal.
Our expansion comes with lots of fun surprises, including more than tripling the inventory of books in stock for young teens, middle graders, and early readers. We’re also growing our selection of kids nonfiction titles, activity books, picture books, and baby books.
So why now, and why kids books?
It’s personal.
Five years after opening Old Town Books my three daughters - ages 7, 3, and 1 - are growing up at the bookstore. While there are many reasons we decided to expand our offerings for young readers, the first and most important reason is personal - my little ones.
These girls know and love our booksellers. They’re pros at sniffing out leftover event snacks and candy. The oldest even read aloud the book at story time last week. Recently my husband started working for the store two days a week. What started as a personal passion project is now truly a family affair.
Creating a place to grow up.
My oldest (and then only!) daughter in October 2018 at the old pop-up location a few weeks before opening. She’s now an avid reader - I love bringing her to Old Town Books to get the next Dory Fantasmagory or I Survived book and to browse early reader chapter books.
More room for picture books!
My three year old is loving longer picture books. I’ve been discovering just how rich the offerings out there are: The art! The characters! The beautiful and playful language and story! It’s so inspiring and fun. I am following my joy by leaning in to this newfound love of picture books - I’ve even started my own personal collection.
Learning how to use the point of sale system early!
My youngest just turned one. She loves practicing walking on the ramp in the shop and waving hi to customers. Watching her discover sensory books makes me glad we’ll have a whole new section of baby books for her to choose from.
There’s an urgent need.
Did you know fewer kids are reading for pleasure since COVID? Virtual learning interrupted access to peer-to-peer book recommendations. Shuttered bookstores and libraries meant fewer opportunities for new book discovery. The 8-10 year old age group is especially at risk of losing out on a lifetime of reading. We’re dedicating special attention to our new middle grade section in hopes of winning back these young readers.
Thankfully there’s local demand in the face of this decline: Our fastest growing section is children’s books. That’s due in part to Alexandria being - like our mural says! - a city of readers. But our kids book sales are also growing because it’s our mission. Old Town Books focuses attention and resources on programming special events, organizing author visits, and creating special reading guides and challenges for kids. Expanding our kids section furthers our aim of having a positive social impact in Alexandria, promoting literacy and a love of books for all.
When:
We contracted to work with our design team a whole year ago! The design process has been underway since fall 2023, and our build out starts very soon. We expect to be open in summer 2024.
What’s in store:
Old Town Books Junior is being designed by the talented creatives at GroH Playrooms, a Washington DC based design firm. We’re working to create a space that is visually beautiful and inspiring, a destination for inspiration!
To that end, we have a gorgeous, realistic steel tree sculpture being custom made from the artists at Nature Makers. Our grand old oak will welcome readers into the bookish wonderland that will be Old Town Books Junior.
We’re growing!
An example of the realistic tree sculptures made by Nature Makers. Ours will be a larger old oak tree.
Our sections will remain the same, just tripled! Young teen, middle grade, graphic novels, early reader! Picture books, activity books, nonfiction, baby books!
In addition to our popular Little Golden Books spinner, we’ll be adding one with “I Can Read” titles and–by popular demand–another with the “Who Was?” series! Finally…drumroll, please…we are going to have a MANGA section!
We’ll have cards, gifts, and free gift wrap, too!
Get Involved:
We’re throwing a kick-off dance party in the new space on Independent Bookstore Day, Saturday April 27th. Save the date and come help break in the new space with some celebratory dance moves to tunes by Tots with Tempo.
We’re hosting preview tours and info sessions for our regular customers, librarians and teachers. If you’re a teacher, school librarian, or administrator interested in learning more about our offerings for schools please subscribe to our newslettter for upcoming announcements.
Work with us! Apply to be a children’s bookseller. The full job description is here. We’re aiming to have interviews in June, and hire by early July.
Stay in touch. Follow us on social and check out our OTB Jr story highlight for updates and sneak peeks of the new space. Subscribe to our newsletter for grand opening details.
Thank you for your encouragement and support over the years. We can’t wait to share this new chapter with our community.
Stay tuned for more!
Our team is cooking up some fun new ways to get involved - a kids book club naming contest! An honorary bookseller program for kids! The fun is just beginning.