Photography provided by Novel Neighbor.
Looking at Novel Neighbor (7905 Big Bend) today, it’s hard to imagine it was ever not overflowing, with books spilling out from aisles and stacked into every nook and cranny of the space. On September 28, the store will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a party and various events. But five years ago, owner Holland Saltsman was the lone employee of the new independent bookstore, its shelves sparsely populated with volumes fresh from the publishers.
For Saltsman, who had experience as a school librarian and public relations specialist for universities, opening a bookstore had not been a lifelong dream. She just wanted a space where people living in a disconnected world could get to know others in their community.
“I love to laugh about how much I didn’t know,” Saltsman says. “I think if I knew more, I’d have been too scared to do it.”
Saltsman’s determination, support from friends—including Alicia Gregov who still works at the store—and an initial crowd-funding campaign helped create not only a shop to buy books, but a community space for birthday parties, author events, local artists’ work, essential oils and candles, and more.
“I intentionally did not put bookstore in the title, because I just didn't feel confident that that's all we were,” Saltsman says. “I've said from the beginning, we are more than a bookstore.”
Photography provided by the Novel Neighbor.
Although the store carries volumes for every age, it makes over half its sales in children’s literature. Much of this is thanks to Melissa Posten, a children’s buyer with two decades of experience who joined the staff three years ago.
“Her ability to connect kids with the right book at the right time is just unrivaled,” Saltsman says of Posten. Posten says the most important thing about buying for all ages is to look for something the reader will love.
“Our customers are largely families who are coming in together, and everybody's looking for something to read,” Posten says. “We want to push and challenge and teach people, but we also want them to love what they're reading.”
An aspect of getting readers—particularly kids—to love what they’re reading is author events. The store has already brought several children’s authors including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Girls Scouts CEO Sylvia Acevedo, and Dav Pilkey, author of the Captain Underpants series, to the store and area elementary schools.
Now, Saltsman and the staff have started Noble Neighbor, a nonprofit that aims to bring these authors to less funded schools. The five-year celebration of the store will also function as a kick-off event for this venture.
Photography provided by the Novel Neighbor.
On September 6, 2018, the Novel Neighbor organized an author visit with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Saltsman does not gloss over the challenges of running a bookstore in 2019. One of the biggest she cites is that an independent bookstore simply can’t afford to underprice books the way online retail giants can. However, she says she feels like her patrons understand that if they don’t shop local, those businesses will go away.
The anniversary party will be a celebration of the store and of its community support, particularly the patrons who have been familiar faces since Novel Neighbor opened.
“I was just commenting to a mom yesterday: when we started, she used to come in with her son, he was so adorable, so tiny,” Gregov says. “Now, he's like 5-and-a-half and going to preschool. The personal connection is amazing.”
Saltsman points to a sign in the store, saying it captures how much the Novel Neighbor, and all indie bookstores, rely on its customers. “Find it here. Buy it here. Keep us here.”
“I love being here,” Saltsman says. “Every interaction with the community, with anybody who walks in the door. We're so lucky.”
