There is a fear that the American book business is being replaced by online copies and e-books with the expansion of the digital market. However, independent booksellers are still doing their part to make sure readers and writers have a place in the world to grab a cup of coffee and sit down with a few old pals."We've got customers from all over the country who list us as one of the top five used book stores they've ever been to."
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The most important thing the average reader can do to make sure they live on is to patronize them. Walk around, enjoy, and for the love of god, buy a book or two.
Here's our guide to independent bookstores in Broward and Palm Beach County:
Bookwise
399 NE Spanish River Blvd, Boca Raton. Call 561-347-6455. Follow Bookwise on Facebook.
Bookwise is proud to be the largest used-book store in South Florida. Family owned and operated, the business is over 25 years old and offers customers a wide range of books including fiction, children's books, art, history, biographies, and even lovely leather-bound reference books. The 10,000-square-foot space houses over 100,000 books. Seating can be found in the back corner along with some tables for readers who want to browse through a book before they buy. It's a great place to find a novel to take on your next vacation, a coffee-table book filled with amazing conversation pieces, or some stationery and sketchbooks. "Used-book stores are very far and few between," says Ann Wulf, manager of Bookwise. "We're not a brick-and-mortar store. What we do is rare, and we've got customers from all over the country who list us as one of the top five used-book stores they've ever been to."
Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore
273 NE Second Ave. in Delray Beach. Follow Murder on the Beach on Facebook. Call 561-279-7790, or visit murderonthebeach.com.
Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore is a comfortable, friendly neighborhood bookstore specializing in mystery (adult and children’s), suspense, thrillers, horror, and true crime. Located in Pineapple Grove in Delray Beach, it is the only mystery bookstore in the state of Florida and boasts being the largest seller of signed Florida mystery books on the internet. Founded in 1996 in Sunny Isles by Joanne Sinchuk, Murder on the Beach moved to its present location in Delray Beach in 2001. Sinchuk came to Florida after 20 years of financial management in large corporations in Connecticut and New York to become a small-business owner and fulfill her dream of owning a small, specialty bookstore. This year she will be celebrating her 20th anniversary in the book business.
Murder on the Beach offers writers workshops, wine seminars, and literary lunches in partnership with local restaurants. The shop has supplied books for many writers conferences in South Florida including the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, Mystery Writers of America SleuthFest, Florida Romance Writers, Romantic Times, and numerous Brandeis, Hadassah, and library author events. It also features book signings by prominent authors including renowned names like James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Linda Fairstein, Stuart Woods, etc., two book discussion groups, and many rare books.
Finding Forrester’s Books
5130 N. Federal Highway, Ste. 6, Fort Lauderdale. Call 754-202-2054, visit Facebook. Call 954-614-7855.
Howard
Second Edition Book Shop
6831 Stirling Road, Davie. Follow
Danelle Whatley and her husband opened the Second Edition Book Shop in 2003. It carries a wide mix of books from romance, suspense, mystery, paranormal, Western, children's, cookbooks, sci-fi, etc. "If you're looking for it, we have it," says Whatley of the 65,000 books in store now. "We work really hard to keep the store clean and organized, alphabetically by author's last name, separated by genre type, then alphabetized by author." Whatley describes the store as "kind of quaint," as nowadays, it's easy for people to download and read most books online. Coming to the store needs to be something special and make an impact for you to keep coming back. Second Edition has four to five different seating areas with chairs for kids to sit as well. Most decorative pieces and furniture in the store are family heirlooms; for example, there are sewing machines, toys, and antiques interspersed throughout the store. "My customers will always be book people," says Whatley. "They're not the techie, have-to-have-it-now clientele. They like to walk the aisles, feel and touch the books, have that special experience in the store." Whatley knows most of her customers by name and enjoys the fact that she can recommend books, suggest things to read based on what they read last, and give them
Big Apple Books
5461 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-772-7761, or visit bigapplebookshop.com. Follow Greg Philippi on Facebook and find him performing with Got U Laughing Improv Troupe.
Robert Fava,
Big Apple Books is an all used-book store that sells books, records, CDs, and DVDs. There are a lot of records on the wall, giving the shop a vintage feel. Shop-goers are usually the culturally aware type who want to keep book culture alive. You can find a great mix of eclectic books, comic books, art, cookbooks, children's books, and recently, records have been a big hit in the store. One of Fava's employees, Greg Philippi, does improvisational comedy and was the musical director for ABC. His diverse and culturally apropos staff adds a lot of flair to the shop. "Customers often tell me, 'Thanks for still being
Volume One
8910 Taft St., Hollywood. Call 954-432-5188, or visit volumeonebooks.com.
Volume One Books carries lots of gently used books in fairly good condition, with much more than just fiction, including a large variety of classics, history, sci-fi, children's, young adult, nonfiction, romance, poetry, plays, religious, cookbooks, and more. "I have everything," says owner Sharon Luippold. The newest addition to the store has been the growth of the nonfiction history section where Luippold has nine full shelves. Volume One Books takes books in for credit, giving up to 20 percent toward purchases. Teachers also come in to buy books in bulk for their classrooms because Volume One gives a discount for educators. The store has been around for over 20 years and continues to please customers with how organized its books are. "They can actually walk over and find what they are expecting to find," says Luippold. Volume One also buys textbooks back from students, and in the fall, Luippold rents out musical instruments for All County music. When customers who are moving call, Luippold will come by and pick up their books. Volume One Books is a proponent of bulk buying, taking donations, and making donations to several local libraries. "The books always find a home," says Luippold.
Pyramid Books
544-2 Gateway Blvd., Boynton Beach. Call 561-731-4422, or visit pyramidbooks.com.
Pyramid Books opened in June 1993 at its present location in Boynton Beach. As an African-American-owned and -operated bookstore, Pyramid Books specializes in new books, offering a wide variety of categories matching the Afrocentric interests of its customers. "We are a specialty bookstore," says manager Denise Evans, "meaning that we carry a lot of titles that relate to the African diaspora. We can get any book you want, but that is our specialty." Pyramid Books is a community bookstore, and thus it also appeals to educators. In addition to fiction, nonfiction, self-help, mysteries, spiritual, science fiction, urban, metaphysics, Egyptology, Pan African, spiritual, self-published, and small-press books, among other hard to find books, the store meets the needs of local school districts. Pyramid Books also partners with these districts to sponsor book fairs and conferences to promote literacy. Appearances by renowned authors and illustrators for different ages have drawn considerable crowds. Owner Akbar Watson began selling books out of the trunk of his car many, many years ago, and realized his ambition to open his own store. "It all started from that," says Evans. "But it kicked in when they couldn't find a specific book they were looking for. He wanted to be able to provide that for people, and now he can." Pyramid Books also specializes in hard-to-find books and encourages customers to call and speak with them personally if assistance is needed, as they may already have it in stock, even if the distributor says it's out of print. "We are the number one literary culture keepers, restoring the kingdom one book at a time," says Watson.