I’m not worried about losing people to other bookstores. “We need more books, and it doesn’t need to be a competition. “Community connections are vital to our state,” Rice said. When Rice installed new shelves and fixtures at Montana Book Co., the old ones were given to Reading Leaves. Such comradery exists between Reading Leaves and Montana Book Co., which are located in neighboring towns. It’s more of when someone does well, everyone does well. “You can ask questions and get answers from people who have been in the business for 60 years. “Bookstores are probably the most supportive group I’ve ever known,” Elliot-Brug said. In 2019 she moved into a physical space on Broadway in Townsend, which did not have a bookstore. “I was looking for ways that I could do more in the community and still keep him with me, and books have always been a passion of mine,” she said. To create the bookstore trail, Elliott-Brug contacted nearly 50 independent bookstores and sellers currently operating in Montana.Įlliot-Brug’s business, Reading Leaves, began in 2018 as a pop-up bookseller after her third child was born. Of that number, 35 were independent bookstores. The study has not been repeated, but at the time Montana had 64 stores - one for every 15,705 people. In 2012, Montana had the most bookstores per capita in the nation, according to Publishers Weekly, which examined the health of bookstores from Alaska to Florida. Since launching, she’s received several calls from booksellers wanting to be included in next year’s bookstore trail. “I wanted it to be completely inclusive of all the bookstores,” she said, though not everyone responded to her inquiry. I guess it’s just an inspiring state to live in.” “Everyone thinks that bookstores are disappearing, but they are not,” Elliott-Brug said. Participating locations number fewer than half of the bookstores that Elliott-Brug contacted, but she hopes that as the passport gains attention, more booksellers will want to join. Visitors receive a stamp in their passport, which is about the size of a regular passport, for each bookstore they visit. The passports are free, funded by Visit Southwest Montana, Far Country Press and Arcadia Press. In June, accompanying bookstore passports were mailed to each bookstore to encourage tourists and travelers to check out Montana’s literary communities this summer. So when Rachel Elliot-Brug, owner of Reading Leaves Books in Townsend, contacted Rice with an idea to start a bookstore trail, she enthusiastically said “yes.” Along with a handful of booksellers throughout the state, they set about making the Montana Bookstore Trail, which includes 21 independent bookstores. “With the revival of independent bookstores, we all do better, and our industry does better if more of us are thriving.” Chelsia Rice, co-owner, Montana Book Co. Bookstores exemplify the community in which they’re situated.” “Book people make it a point to check out the bookstore when they go to a new town. So why not book trails?” wondered Chelsia Rice, co-owner of Montana Book Co., in downtown Helena. The trail snakes from the western side of the state into southwest and central Montana, then east, with an outlier on the Hi-Line. Montana’s brewery trail, a map created to encourage tourism to the state’s many microbreweries, has more than 50 stops. OL15039270W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 62 Page_number_module_version 1.0.3 Pages 42 Pdf_module_version 0.0.23 Ppi 360 Rcs_key 24143 Republisher_date 20230727113747 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 187 Scandate 20230720125304 Scanner Scanningcenter cebu Scribe3_search_catalog isbn Scribe3_search_id 9780516227375 Tts_version 5.Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 10:23:52 Autocrop_version 0.0.15_books-20220331-0.2 Bookplateleaf 0004 Boxid IA41038602 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Col_number COL-2833 Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier
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