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BUSINESS Retail • Projects • Profiles
Read All About It
New indie bookstore opens in Virginia-Highland
By ClareS. Richie
The community has quickly embraced
Virginia Highland Books, located a stones
throw from the Virginia Avenue and N.
Highland Avenue intersection, even before its
soft launch.
“The amount of interest is very reassuring,”
owner Sandy Huff said. “Bookstores have to
have neighborhood support to succeed. So far,
people seem excited so that’s a step in the right
direction!”
Huff, a long-time Intown resident with
a background in event planning, public
relations and marketing, first turned to the
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American Booksellers Association and other
indie bookstore owners for guidance.
“They told me who to call. What to do.
How to start. It’s a really cooperative industry,”
Huff said.
Indie bookstores operate on thin margins
due to set publisher prices and compete with
juggernaut Amazon (willing to sell books
at a loss) and e-books. On the bright side,
print sales rose by 8 percent in 2020, as more
readers seemed to prefer to a physical book to
a screen.
Once word got out that an indie
bookstore was coming to the neighborhood,
volunteers, local artists, and college students
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looking for work began to contact Huff.
Retired volunteer Ellen Kempner was ready
to “do whatever Sandy needs help with” from
stenciling to stocking shelves.
“As a lifelong reader, a bookstore is my
happy place — especially one right around
the corner!” Kempner said. “I see helping a
local business succeed as helping the entire
neighborhood.”
Enter this new happy place and you’ll find
the fiction section on the right. Young adult
and children’s books with a cozy nook for
story time are on the left.
“I had cushions made for window seats so
parents can sit there while children are on the
rug,” Huff said.
Head down the central staircase decorated
with author names stenciled by Kempner
to browse nonfiction books and soon-to-be-
stocked vinyl records.
“There’s also space downstairs for
gatherings — book signings, book clubs, the
skies the limit.” Huff said. She plans to start
scheduling events and meetings in August.
As folks reconnect over a good read at
Virginia Highland Books, Huff encourages
the community to help curate her inventory.
“I want to have as much input from the
neighborhood as possible on what they’re
reading and giving reviews,” Huff said. Staff
will also be providing book recommendations.
For added flexibility, order books online
(vahibooks.com) to pick-up in store or ship
direct. Huff is also selling other nonbook
items, like readers, blue light glasses, and
puzzles for starters.
Rather than selling used books, Virginia
Highland Books will collect and donate used
books to local nonprofits. The first recipient is
Hillside, which provides
mental health services
to 700 families a year,
including residential
treatment for 70
children at its VaHi
campus.
“A good young
adult series, fun, quirky,
diverse and perhaps
aspirational would
be a great suggestion
[to donate],” said
Alison Jarvis, Hillside
Atlanta Development
Director. “A child can
enjoy a book and then
can read others in the
series. Having these
things to enjoy when
they are very anxious
or depressed can help
them cope and alleviate
stress.”
The bookstore will
also display local art on a rotating basis. First
up is travel photographer, Jonathan McKown
(jonathanmckown.com) whose images
include landscapes, wildlife, people and
historical sites. In addition to large, framed
pictures, pre-matted smaller photos will also
be for sale
With all of these community connections,
Virginia Highland Books is helping the
neighborhood get back to its roots. In the
1980s, there were five indie bookstores on
less than a one mile stretch of N. Highland
Avenue from the U.S. Post Office to Plaza
Drugs. One of the shops, Bealer’s Books,
was actually in the Virginia Highland Books
footprint.
Mark Stevens, former co-owner of The
Science Fiction and Mystery Bookshop
located on corner of N. Highland and St.
Charles Avenue in the 1980s, has some
heartfelt advice for Huff.
“You’ve got to be dedicated,” Stevens said.
“You’re not doing it to get rich, but you do it
for all of the other reasons. It’s fun. It’s a labor
of love. It’s a meeting place for minds. If it’s
going to be done anywhere — it can be done
there.”
Huff shares that passion. What excites her
the most about this venture? You guessed it —
the books!
“I probably read about 100 books a year,”
Huff said. She’s hoping her neighbors will too
after visiting her bookstore.
Virginia Highland Books is located at
1034 N. Highland Avenue. For more details,
visit vahibooks.com and @vihibooks on
Instagram. [ED
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