{"id":30254,"date":"2019-07-19T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=30254"},"modified":"2019-07-19T08:00:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T12:00:10","slug":"a-big-texas-welcome-to-lark-owl-bookstore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=30254","title":{"rendered":"A Big Texas Welcome to Lark & Owl Booksellers!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we plunge into the last few months of planning for the 11th annual Texas Teen Book Festival, we\u2019re working on finalizing all the details for our move to the campus of Southwestern University up in Georgetown, Tex. Although we\u2019ve loved our time at St. Edwards University, construction has sent us up north, and it\u2019s been really fun for me personally to get to know Georgetown a little bit more. With a beautiful campus and terrific facilities, Southwestern University has proven a really promising partner, but we\u2019re also excited to spread our wings north of the city and maybe expand\u00a0the festival’s outreach to some new school districts and some new \"\"<\/a>readers. Surprisingly accessible from Austin, Georgetown offers a charming small-town feel but also has a lot to offer in its cheerful downtown\u2014including Lark & Owl<\/a>, a brand-new indie bookstore that opened its doors at the end of April.
\nFounded by a team of 10 women led by general manager Jane Estes, the store\u2019s name comes from the split between the chipper morning larks and wakeful night owls in the group. As Jane tells it, \u201cAfter our children were past toddler age, we thought we\u2019d have more time for bookclub, but that didn\u2019t prove to be true. So whenever I\u2019d run into a book club friend, we\u2019d talk about what we were reading. So, I knew people still wanted to talk about books.\u201d With hours and programming designed to serve all types of busy shoppers, the store clearly strives to offer something for everyone, no matter their schedules\u2014from morning storytimes for families to evening cocktails (on draft!) for an older audience.
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The ten co-founders! Back row: Kristina Wagner Moore, Kelly McClennahan, Amanda Parr, Jane Estes, Mari Ramirez, Janet Thompson, Kristin Rountree. Front row: Misty Adair, Rachael Jonrowe, Sara Ramirez. Photo credit: Phil Butler.<\/p><\/div>
\nI got a quick sneak peek of the store a couple months ago along with some of my BookPeople colleagues, but the doors weren\u2019t yet open. I stopped back in today while I was in Georgetown to see it all in action. With customers browsing the stacks or sipping coffees and piles of newly arrived books piled on the backroom desk, the store was filled with a warm, bustling energy. It sounds like the community has welcomed them with open arms and the booksellers are starting to figure out what their\u00a0readers are looking for.
\nJane tells me that sci-fi fans have been seen doing \u201chappy dances\u201d after finding gems on the shelves; that more than a few parents have dozed off in the children\u2019s loft as\u00a0children contentedly read by their sides; and that poetry\u2019s been unexpectedly flying off the shelves, prompting an expanded slate of programming. They already have a number of regulars, including two toddlers who arrive weekly and just might be destined to get married (according to their mothers). And they’ve hit two big milestones for any store, recently hosting their first big event with Delia Owens and deftly responding to their first complaint by affixing cheeky warnings to gift lines that might offend.
\nI’m so excited to see such a big team of creative\u00a0booksellers join the Texas indie community. I highly encourage you to get to the store to see it for yourself. In the meantime, here\u2019s a quick photo tour. As Jane reflected today, \u201cThere is much joy in a bookstore.\u201d And taking a look at what\u00a0they’ve done so far, I\u00a0think that sentiment shows.<\/p>\n

Kids can dive\u00a0into a perfect storytime corner with a mini photo wall.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Clever tags assuage customer complaints.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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\nEye-catching\u00a0displays and design elements\u00a0incorporate\u00a0repurposed materials and\u00a0pieces from local artisans throughout the space.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
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\nCustomers can grab coffee during the day or drinks at night (and bistro food soon!) from the bar area.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
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\nThey offer great merch, including these tumblers are the perfect size and also keep contents hot or cold as needed. The whole BookPeople contingent purchased them\u00a0on our first visit.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
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\nShopping carts have been cleverly repurposed from the farmer’s market that used to occupy the space.<\/strong><\/em>
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\n\u00a0And b<\/strong><\/em>efore you go, make sure to strike a pose in front of the store’s signature instagram wall!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cocktails on draft, striking design elements, and a strong sense of community energize a hip new indie bookstore. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}