Small Business Saturday is a special day each year when people across the country can support local businesses. It allows you to connect more with your community and spend time giving back to local stores. You can find just about anything and everything you will ever need at local businesses for the holiday season. For the readers in your life, small businesses like independent bookstores even have sales where you can find the perfect gift.
All across the country are indie bookstores that have all the must-have finds that you need for your holiday shopping. Why shop at big-name stores like Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million when you can get a personalized book shopping experience while shopping small? With personalized gifts, stationery, books used and new, you will be sure to find an outstanding gift for the booklover in your life while supporting a local shop. Here are 14 independent bookstores from around the country to shop at on Small Business Saturday.
Sweeter Than Fiction Bookshop in Charleston, South Carolina
To start off your journey for Small Business Saturday, Sweeter Than Fiction is a terrific shop to get your holiday shopping done at. This unique Taylor Swift-inspired romance bookstore has books that you will instantly fall in love with. Upon walking inside, you are welcomed into a romance-centered space with lights, flowers, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and book merchandise everywhere. This store is a one-stop shopping experience that you will never want to leave. Book merch includes sweaters, bookmarks, bags, stickers, hats, jewelry, books, and t-shirts. Find everything you need for the romance reader in your life and support this local bookseller.
The Velvet Chapter Bookshop in Petaluma, California
For something more along the lines of fantasy and romance, The Velvet Chapter Bookshop is a fantastic store to visit. This shop is a charming little store that decorates for every holiday, celebrates every season, and invites readers to become part of its community. The bookstore offers all sorts of fantasy and romance books, from big-name authors to emerging authors. This special spot is one you don’t want to miss out on and has everything you need for the holiday season. With special editions of books, bookmarks, stickers, shirts, fan art, and sweaters, you can get everything you need for a fantasy reader in your life.
The Collective Bookshop in Verona, New Jersey
Considered a literary haven, The Collective Bookshop is a neighborhood book lover’s dream in the heart of New Jersey. This bookstore prides itself on its deep connection to the local community and its passion for books. They offer a space for readers of all ages and interests, creating a community gathering place filled with imagination. The Collective Bookshop is a special place to get everything book lovers like and need for the holiday season. With an unwavering passion for books, this shop is a must-visit for Small Business Saturday.
Bridgeside Books in Waterbury, Vermont
Nestled inside Vermont, in the charming village of Waterbury, Bridgeside Books is a great place for booklovers to engage their minds. This cozy little shop can offer a community space for readers while also providing the best gifts book lovers ask for. With books new and old and authors well known and local, you can find just about anything you can ever want to read. In a picturesque spot, you can get all the vibes of an ideal shopping day while supporting a local community. Spend your Small Business Saturday shopping in this local bookstore that has everything you desire.
Steamy Lit Bookstore in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Discover a book lover’s oasis at Steamy Lit Romance Bookstore, where passion and romance meet literature. This storefront is a space where every reader can feel seen, celebrated, and invited to fall in love with reading. Shop special edition books, book sleeves, tote bags, hats, shirts, and sweatshirts. You can find anything you ever wanted as a reader and show off your love of reading. Become a part of the community inside the bookstore and support the local shops that give back to their own foundation for historically underrepresented communities and identities. This store is a one-stop shop for the reader in your life and will make holiday shopping feel like an absolute breeze.
Fable Hollow Bookshoppe in Knoxville, Tennessee
Offering a cozy setting to your book shopping experience, Fable Hollow Bookshoppe has a whimsical, fantastical interior that is part of every booklover’s dream. As a coffee shop and bookstore, this cafe is the best shopping experience during the holiday season. Offering their exclusive merch, candles, newly released books, special edition books, and bookmarks, they have every gift that a booklover in your life can ask for. Spend hours shopping at the store and buy a little something for yourself while supporting this local bookstore.
Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee
Owned by author Ann Patchett, Parnassus Books is an independent bookstore for the independent people in Nashville. With the eye of an author curating this store, it is the epitome of a booklover’s shopping experience. Full of shop dogs, floor-to-ceiling shelves, book merch for your every mood, books for every taste/genre, and gifts everyone loves, this bookshop is an unforgettable experience. If you ever feel the need to venture to a bookstore with booklovers in mind during the holiday season, this store is immaculate.
Hello Hello Books in Rockland, Maine
With a unique name like Hello Hello Books, this independent bookstore gives readers an unforgettable shopping experience. Featuring a mix of used, new, bargain books, magazines, and book series-related merchandise, this store has everything you need. Hello Hello Books provides a unique selection of cards and bookmarks for any reader. This bookshop fosters out-of-the-ordinary gifts that cultivate community and advocate for social justice with an independent spirit. If you are looking for a unique shopping experience with gifts bound to make a statement this holiday season, this is the store for you.
Skylark Bookshop in Columbia, Missouri
If you are looking for a gift for the book lovers in your life and are unsure what to get them, Skylark Bookshop can help ease your worry. In addition to their books and merchandise, they offer the Skylark Reading Spa, a Skylark Book Subscription, and a store gift certificate. Browse at your leisure and check out all of the unbeatable gift options that you have at your fingertips. With an inviting atmosphere and being surrounded by books, get ready to get lost while holiday shopping and buying more than you actually need. Skylark is a special bookstore that offers everything you need to be a grade-A book lover this holiday season.
Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colorado
The largest independent shop in Boulder, Boulder Bookstore makes shopping in the local community easy and a great shopping experience. Designed with three floors, you can easily get lost in the store and get everything you will ever need for the holiday season. Created to work with the community and support customers of all kinds, gifts are easy to find and will ease the nerves of shopping for a bookworm and not knowing which book to choose. Boulder Bookstore, in all of its space, offers readers and non-readers a chance to spend Small Business Saturday in the best way possible.
King’s English Bookshop in Salt City, Utah
One of the most unique and inviting bookstores anywhere is The King’s English Bookshop. This shop offers Indigenous-focused books for young people, along with curating the rest of their books on important issues and diverse topics to nurture minds and support the community. Offering store-exclusive swag, music, special-edition books, and book-related merch, book holiday shopping became that much easier. Take a visit to this unique bookstore this holiday season and complete your reader’s must-have gift list while shopping small.
Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas
Blue Willow Bookshop serves the Greater Houston area, offering specially chosen books and advice on what to read. This bookshop shares its love of books with its patrons, both in the community and beyond. Creating a supportive community that is curated to let everyone feel the joy of reading and an open community inside books is what they pride themselves on. During the holiday season, this bookstore offers every gift option a reader aspires to have at affordable prices. Experience the welcoming atmosphere and spend hours getting lost on Small Business Saturday, shopping for the bookworm in your life.
Octavia Books in New Orleans, Louisiana
Serving book lovers everywhere, Octavia Books is a locally owned, independent bookstore that has everything a bookworm wants for the holidays. Offering a space for community and featuring books by BIPOC writers, they provide different voices so that every customer has a place at the store. With countless events throughout the year, Octavia Books creates a space where readers can join an open community to become a part of something special. They recommend a wide variety of gifts for book lovers, including books from local authors, signed books, and merchandise that align with popularly read books. Stay local this holiday season, and support this local bookshop by buying flawless bookish gifts.
Sidetrack Bookshop in Royal Oak, Michigan
To finish your journey around the country with bookstores, visit the Sidetrack Bookshop. This bookshop offers a mission-driven selection of new fiction and non-fiction to build community and to share comfort in reading. Their space is open to all ages and identities and builds compassion within the walls lined with books. They offer everything you can imagine having as a reader and give you a chance to become the book lover of your dreams. Much like other bookstores, they offer stickers, special edition books, store-exclusive clothing, and little book gadgets to offer a unique reading experience. Sidetrack Bookshop, much like its name, will sidetrack your mission of buying gifts for others during the holiday season and will have you looking for gifts for yourself.
This year, take yourself on a day full of adventure and giving back to your local community. Take part in Small Business Saturday and give the bookworm in your life the perfect gift. Spend the day contributing to local businesses and making a difference in your holiday shopping. Choose one of the 14 Independent bookstores from around the country or the countless others not mentioned, and expand your shopping this season.
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Find books to get on Small Business Saturday and more on our Bookstr Team Recommendations on Bookshop.org.
