MINNEAPOLIS — Independent Bookstore Day is an annual holiday for book lovers, and the Twin Cities celebrates with a full weekend of promotions, including a passport.
“You want to go and get your stamps,” said Paige Horsch, who displayed her bookstore passport while getting an early start on her shopping Friday morning. “If you get a stamp, you get to go back later and get 20% off your purchase.”
Horsch and her friend, Sarah Schroeder, planned to visit ten different stores on Friday, and this year’s stop at Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis’ Longfellow neighborhood resulted in a second stop that took them slightly off the grid.
“It’s definitely unique,” Horsch said as he walked into a large garage behind Moon Palace, where the Paperback Exchange had set up a temporary pop-up shop.
The long-running south Minneapolis bookstore has been without a storefront since a devastating water main break in February.
“We were really worried that they weren’t going to be coming this year since they had the flood, which would totally be understandable,” Schroeder told me. “But they set everything up and it’s pretty cool.”
Following the water main break, Paperback Exchange lost 80% of its inventory and could have lost the remaining 20% if volunteers had not rescued books and the owner of Moon Palace Books had offered a space.
“We couldn’t have done this without Moon Palace,” said Rachel Pedersen, Manager at Paperback Exchange. “I mean, for the first few days, we didn’t have anywhere to put our books, and she stepped up. It was just… honestly, the community’s support is what motivated us to keep going because it was overwhelming.”
Pedersen and Andy Hersey, whose family has owned the store for nearly 50 years, say other recent pop-up events, as well as a GoFundMe page, have helped. However, they say the path back to a permanent store remains unclear.
“We’re kind of exploring all options right now,” Pedersen explained. The building is still undergoing extensive reconstruction. “The foundation is still quite unstable.”
“Everybody’s figuring it out for themselves and trying to do their best,” Hersey told me. “However, there has been a noticeable lack of support from the city and insurance companies. Many people are simply in limbo until some of these issues are resolved.
But this weekend, they’re simply happy to be open for business.
“It’s the biggest day of the year, for sure, for basically every bookstore in town,” Pedersen told me. “It’s like a huge celebration. Book people simply enjoy browsing and supporting bookstores. So it’s really enjoyable.”
But don’t take their word for it.
“It’s fantastic,” Horsch said. “Anywhere I’ll get a book recommendation is a place I’ll check out.”