Introducing 40 Bookshops Under 40

1/10/2025

On the wooden counter, flooded in afternoon sunlight, I spotted a hand-drawn sign that said “Pre-order now” next to a book cover that read “The Bookshop. The history of the American Bookstore.”

On a sunny afternoon of early summer 2024, my husband and I were strolling Parentheses Books in Harrisonburg, VA.
When I asked the bookseller behind the counter - a petite woman in her early thirties - about the book, she looked up and - with a hint of pride - informed us, “Actually, that’s my husband’s book. It comes out in a few weeks. We’ll host a book launch party in August if you’d like to come.”

Not only was I thrilled by the book premise itself, but by the fact that the author was local: Evan Friss, husband to said bookseller Amanda Friss, is a history professor at James Madison University. Before I knew what I was saying, I asked “Do you think he would like to come to Staunton and host a reading at Staunton Books and Tea?”

My husband and I had just started helping to organize events (including an international book club) at our local bookshop (one of seven in a small town with 25,000 people). We both feel strongly about the importance of independently owned bookshops not only as a place to sell books but as an opportunity for knowledge curation, exploration, discovery and community. Amanda offered to put us in touch and the rest is history.

"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."
Evan Friss, The Bookshop

On October 1, 2025, we combined a book reading with a panel discussion about the importance of independent bookshops, especially in rural America. Our panelists were bookshop owners from Crozet (Bluebird & Co.), Staunton (Staunton Books & Tea), Waynesboro (Stone Soup Books) and Harrisonburg (Parentheses). The room was packed. While the booksellers swapped anecdotes about book selling, community building and running a small business, the room slowly began to fill with a sense of belonging.

Perhaps not surprisingly, but certainly surprising to him, Evan’s book took off. The night of our panel discussion, he found out he had made the New York Times bestseller list. The book was featured in the Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and People Magazine (“Fascinating. . . . A heartfelt, essential love letter to the literary sanctuary of bookstores and the people who run them.”). Only two months later, The Bookshop made it onto the 100 Best Books of the Year by the Times.

The Importance of Indie Bookshops

“If bookstores were animals, they’d be on the list of endangered species.”
Evan Friss, The Bookshop

Apart from the ethical and cultural reason for supporting independently owned businesses, there’s a strong economic argument to be made. According to the American Booksellers Association (American Booksellers Association and Civic Economics, Unfulfilled: Amazon and the American Retail Landscape, 2022, p. 4), “Independent businesses distribute profits to local ownership, employ a variety of personnel that might otherwise reside at a distant corporate office, routinely purchase goods and services from other local businesses, and generously support local charitable causes (...) Approximately 29% of all revenue at independent bookstores immediately recirculates in the local economy.” The report continues, “The presence of bookshops [on Main street], [helps] prevent urban decay, increase[s] or maintain[s] property values and provide[s] footfall for neighboring communities.”

Independent businesses, and bookstores in particular, contribute to our sense of what makes a downtown. They add character and a place for community on Main street like few other places.

Over the course of history, bookshops have served as more than a marketplace. They have made space for civil discussion, activists and artistic performances. I doubt I’m the only one who begins to swoon when we hear about the salons of writers, book parties, lectures and exhibitions that Francis Steloff hosted at the Gotham Book Mart.

We can’t argue the importance of independent bookshops without talking about the role of booksellers. Jeff Deutsch, author of In Praise of Good Bookstores (2022), emphasizes that “the most important job of the bookseller [is] to find and promote and love the books that are good, that do good in this world. The groundbreaking books, the books that tell important stories, the books that see and elevate historically marginalized people. Amazon doesn’t care about this work; they see books as mere objects in their massive data-collecting flywheel.”

Bookshops matter. For our neighborhoods and towns, for our economy, and for understanding who we are and who we want to be as a community and a society.

40 Bookshops Under 40

“Good bookstores are a repository for great books and a testing ground for recently published aspirants to greatness.“
Jeff Deutsch

Following the panel discussion with our local bookshop owners, I was hooked.

I wanted more. Of what, I wasn’t sure.

But there I was, surrounded by booksellers who were deeply passionate about stories and curating knowledge and finding the right book for the right person. It was contagious. I didn't want to open a bookshop - they had successfully talked me out of that idea once they lifted the curtain of what it’s ACTUALLY like to own one - but I wanted to meet more of these bookish idealists, treasure hunters and matchmakers between books and readers.

At our panel discussion, Flannery Buchanan of Bluebird and Co. explained, “I just love the feeling of finding the right book for the right person. I handpick books for our regulars. I know what they enjoy reading and when a new book comes in, I sometimes give them a call and let them know that I have something new for them. It’s such a rewarding feeling.”

The other bookshop owners nodded knowingly.

I have come to believe that bookshops are a place of public service, of community and deep connection and true creativity. It’s a place where worlds - real and imaginary and everything in between - collide. And I love being in the middle of it, watching the magic unfold.
Shortly before my 39th birthday, I told my friend and fellow bookworm Jen about my experience. Nonchalantly she suggested, “You should visit 40 Indie bookshops by the time you turn 40! 40 bookshops under 40!”

Instantly, the same fire I had felt during the bookshop discussion lit up again.

The idea was brilliant!

I was recently self-employed, leaving me with more flexibility than I’ve had in years to pursue a passion project. I am already working with my local bookshop and want to know more about how other bookshop owners build thriving businesses and engage their local community in the magic of reading.

So I’m setting out to visit and feature 40 Indie bookshops by the time I turn 40 (on December 9, 2025).
As I start out, these book places are on my list: