"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." In the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, the city of Staunton - with only 25,000 residents - is home to six independent bookshops. From general interest to specific niches, there’s something for everyone. Even better: half of them are within a three-minute walk from one another and the other half is less than a five-minute drive from historic downtown. In honor of National Independent Bookshop Day 2025, I took a tour of Staunton’s Indie bookstores and captured some of my personal favorites to help you plan your next bookish adventure in the Queen City:
A Family AffairEvery book in the store is either recommended by a customer, written by an established author or approved by me. I don’t always trust the bestseller list, that’s why I spend a lot of time talking to customers. I’d rather someone leave without a book rather than with a bad one. On a sunny Friday in March 2025, I drove through the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley to spend the day in Lexington. After coffee at Pronto Caffe & Gelateria and before hiking to Natural Bridge, I visited Paige Williams at Downtown Books. The shop used to be housed in a small space on Nelson Street and has blossomed since moving into a large, light-filled space on Main Street. The walls are taken up by watercolor paintings, a world map with tiny flags for the places that visitors are from and a giant post-it board with customer’s book recommendations. The furniture is antique and lovingly refurbished (“the older, the better”, Paige told me).
Parentheses Books is - in a way - where #40BookshopsUnder40 was born. It was at Parentheses that I found out about The Bookshop. The history of the American bookstore by Evan Friss, husband to Parentheses’ owner Amanda Friss. Last July, I came across a poster with a note advertising pre-orders. And it was at Parentheses where Evan launched his book in August of 2024. The rest is history (that you can read about here). Parentheses are little containers for words. They're neat and orderly. (Can we call them cozy?) They're the literary equivalent of a hug. Parentheses itself, however, had been on my radar since before their opening. In 2022, I started hearing a rumor about an independent bookshop in Harrisonburg that was raising its seed capital through a Kickstarter campaign. Lo and behold, Amanda’s is one the rare crowdfunding campaigns that got overfunded and she was able to open her brick and mortar store inside the then-brand new (and still kind of new) Liberty Street Mercantile - a retail space featuring several independent small businesses new to Harrisonburg.
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