Everyone has their neighborhood bookstore or their local library they call home. Maybe both even. I know I do - in TWO different cities. World of Books if a bi-weekly feature that allows me - and any of YOU - to share the bookstores and libraries you love so much. If you want to be featured on World of Books too, make sure to go HERE and fill out the contact form!
Today I bring you
CHRISTINA from Reader of Fictions. And SHE brings you bookish places in Atlanta, Georgia. Or, rather, she brings you LITTLE SHOP OF STORIES. Get the jeallies ready, folks, you'll need 'em.
When I said that I would do a World of Books post for Gaby, there was only one place I had in mind. While, in general, I’m more of a library than a bookstore girl, because, hey, free things, Atlanta has one of the best independent bookstores. It’s about 20-25 minutes from my house without traffic in this awesome part of the city called Decatur. This is a great place to go for people watching, burritos, beer and books. From the outside,
Little Shop of Stories is kind of easy to miss, since it doesn’t have much window space.
It’s snuggled in next to that boutique, to the left of which is Starbucks, conveniently. Who doesn’t love a book store whose name references strange musicals about carnivorous plants? Anyway, let’s go inside.
When you first walk in, there’s this table for featured books. Often, there are signed books here from recent events, so it’s worth checking out. Picture books line the walls of the entry, along the back there and along the wall on the right that’s not shown here. The doorway you can see in the back right leads to the second story, where my book club meets and a number of events are held.
To the left of that display table is another display, either of books for events or of staff recommendations. There’s also an awesome reading frog sculpture thing. You can also see a couple of the awesome wall decorations that cover that wall of the store.
Here you can see the schedule of upcoming events. Little Shop gets a lot of the best events in Atlanta. I’ve seen Lenore Appelhans, Jackson Pearce, Elizabeth Eulberg, Elizabeth Wein, Maureen Johnson, Stephanie Perkins, Lauren Oliver, Lauren Morrill and more here, not even counting Decatur Book Festival which Little Shop helps to support. Then all around it are hand-drawn posters by picture book authors who have visited the shop over the years. How awesome is that?
Here’s the young adult section. Well, through M anyway. As you can see it’s not the most comprehensive, because it’s a small store, but you can also custom order things. Note the placards with recommendations! They also have adorable signs to mark sections.
DINOSAUR. Sword! These people get what my young heart was interested in. Oh, and if you have to go to the bathroom…
This is weird to document, I realize, but LOOK HOW CUTE IT IS. And, though I didn’t photograph inside the restrooms, the walls are coated in book posters. It’s awesome. That’s all I’m saying.
Now going upstairs…
This is where the big events happen and book clubs meet. It’s not the fanciest space, but it’s pretty cozy and Dr. Seuss wall hangings.
The second floor overlooks the first. From here, you can see the check out, more posters, and down on the bottom left is the ARC shelf, which I always have to stop and drool at.
Finally, there’s a room for board books, which is simply adorable. Now, not being a fan of kiddos, I don’t spend time there, but it’s pretty awesome that they have story time in there. Plus, it’s just so meta. There’s a little shop in Little Shop!
If you ever come to Atlanta, Little Shop is an excellent bookish destination, and who doesn’t want to support a local indie bookstore with friendly staff (even if they totally laughed at me while I was taking pictures :-p)?
Kay, Christina, I'm coming to visit, make way for Queen Ella Bee (I hope you understood that "Make way for Prince Ali" reference right there but I had to type it out to be sure.) Anyone else wanna come? Let me know in the comments below so I can book my parade of elephants.
