Around Indies

Left Bank Undergoes Makeover

As the winner of the Bookstore Make-Over Project, sponsored by The Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates, Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri, received free store design and merchandising services, as well as $2,000 in materials and services for enhancements.

The project, which was recently featured in St. Louis Business Journal, included renovating display windows, improving traffic flow in the store, and updating signage and promotional messaging. The staircase to Left Bank’s lower level was also redone to make it a focal point and the children’s section was moved to a separate department.

Owner Kris Kleindienst told the Journal that she expects the renovations to increase bookstore sales. (Watch for more on this story in next week’s issue.)

Lyon Books Named Chico’s Best

Lyon Books and Learning Center in Chico, California, has once again been voted the city’s best bookstore by the readers of Chico News & Review.  In an article published on October 11, Chico News & Review said, “This vibrant independent book shop is loved by Chicoans for its great selection of new and used books (including a great used children’s book section!), magazines, cards and interesting novelty-gift items. Its focus on local—local authors, local musicians’ CDs, local greeting-card artists — is dedicated and refreshing. Periodic book signings and presentations by local and more widely known writers round out Lyon’s compelling offerings.”

Centuries & Sleuths Hosts Discussion of Trudi Kanter Memoir

Augie Aleksy, the owner of Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore in Forest Park, Illinois, partnered on Wednesday with a local dress shop, deedee & edee, to host a group discussion of the October Indie Next Great Read Some Girls, Some Hats and Hitler: A True Love Story Rediscovered by Trudi Kanter (Scribner).

Fifteen women participated in the discussion of Kanter’s memoir about designing hats and falling in love in the midst of the Holocaust.