Welcome to the next installment of the Bookstore Solidarity Project! Every month, we’ll be highlighting indie bookstore owners and booksellers across the country (and beyond!)

For May, we’re featuring Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA!

Avid is an iconic indie store who have been up to all kinds of cool things lately, including calling for the University of Georgia to collaborate with local bookstores and businesses for their events, and suing Gwinnett County Jail over their mail policy that prevents Avid and other bookstores from mailing books to incarcerated people.

We spoke to owner and founder Janet Geddis. Check it out below!

Your name and pronouns?
Janet Geddis, she/her

Tell us a little bit about the store and your community.
In 2004, I moved to Athens, Georgia for what was supposed to be a two-year stint during my graduate program. I had grown up in nearby Atlanta but hadn’t lived in Georgia since I was in high school. Because most Athenians I knew back then were students, I figured there wasn’t much going on if you weren’t affiliated with the university; if I wanted to live in Athens, this was my one chance. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Athens is my forever-town, somewhere I can’t imagine leaving for long. I fell in love with this creative enclave, a little blue dot amid the mostly-red state. Even before announcing my plans to open a bookstore, I felt a strong sense of community. Once I started Avid Bookshop, my connection to the community grew ever stronger.

In 2007, a friend and I decided to begin researching the possibility of opening a bookstore in Athens. In 2008, we announced our plans and immediately garnered lots of encouragement and support from the Athens community, our friends, our family (even if they were trepidatious!), and the then-unfamiliar book world. Those of you who weren’t adults in 2008 (or those of you who’ve blocked out that period) might have forgotten that that was the year of a recession that was devastating for millions. Not the ideal time to ask banks and private lenders for capital to help open an independent bookstore, especially as folks [whose feedback I wasn’t actually asking for] openly said what a bad idea it was to open a bookstore, especially with Amazon’s continued dominance and the growing buzz about these “ebooks” that were going to make paper books totally irrelevant.

Because we’re still open now, in the year 2024, you know that I did manage to open a bookstore. In 2011, I finally opened a small shop on Prince Avenue, an 800 sq ft historic space less than half a mile from where I was living at the time. In 2016, we opened a second location in a different neighborhood of town. And, on the last day of 2019, we voluntarily closed our original store. (Within a few months, the decision to pivot back to a one-store business model proved to be an inadvertently genius move, as keeping one store going amidst a pandemic was hard enough.)

I am so proud of my store and of my staff past and present. My current crew is especially tight, and I love how we share with each other, support each other, ask for help when needed, and hold each other accountable. And yes, the “we” includes me even though I’m ostensibly the one who’s in charge of it all. It’s not always easy to hear, but getting my colleagues’ feedback on is instrumental and I am grateful for how well we communicate with respect and appreciation, no matter if we’re praising one another or asking folks to step up.

We look to our mission statement to guide our decision-making, our buying, our decision to speak out (or not), our relationships with customers, and more. Check it out here.

What got you into bookselling?
A lifelong obsession with reading; a BA in English; understanding that, while I was a good teacher, I didn’t feel truly inspired or alive while teaching; my deep love for Athens; the fact that this college town didn’t have the kind of community-focused bookstore it so richly deserved.

How did you choose your store’s name?
My friend Amy, who was my original business partner in the early planning stages, thought of it. While I liked the name, I was vying for “Word.” We had thought of tons of options (crowdsourcing from friends during happy hour was always fun), but Avid and Word were the top two contenders. Then, in 2009 or so, I was visiting a dear friend who lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. We emerged from the subway and I stopped in my tracks: there, right in front of me, was an eye-catching neighborhood bookstore called WORD. Someone already had the name! “Oh,” my friend said, “This is the bookstore I wanted to show you. Isn’t it cute?” Reader, it was cute. It is cute. And it is the reason I told my friend that we should go with Avid. My one sticking point was that we call it Avid Bookshop, not Avid Bookstore. The emphasis on “shop” conjures a cozier, friendlier, and decidedly indie vibe. (Side note: not long after seeing WORD for the first time, I became buddies with the then-manager and the owner. Fast forward to now, and the founding owner of WORD, Christine Onorati, is one of my dearest friends and confidantes!)

What’s something about your store that you think will surprise people?
Depends on which people you mean.

Those in and outside of the book world might be surprised to know that—despite Avid’s being in a state where employees are not legally entitled to as many rights as they should be—I voluntarily and eagerly offer paid time off, sick leave, and a generous family leave policy. In spring 2022, we redefined “full-time” as working 35 hours per week instead of 40 (without a corresponding decrease in pay).

Those not in the publishing-bookselling ecosystem might not realize that a bookstore can do as well we do yet still struggle mightily to pay our bills each month. In spite of our high sales, accolades, community support, and excellent hand selling skills, it’s profoundly difficult to stay in the black (outside of the holiday season, at least). This industry is a notoriously tough one in which to turn a profit, and it’s getting harder. But we’re still here and I have zero plans to give up trying to find a better way.

What are some of you favorite ways your community supports your store?
I could write a book-length response to this, but I’ll stick with this: I am deeply honored that many in our community share their hearts with us. They come here knowing that this is one place where they will be seen and appreciated by us and by each other.

Amid personal and worldwide crises (post-Election-Day 2016), people feel safe at Avid. In moments of boundless joy (a pregnancy was just confirmed! a marriage proposal went off without a hitch!), they celebrate with us. During hours or months of staggering bewilderment and grief (a life-changing diagnosis; a friend’s death), they know we will welcome them exactly as they are. When significant things happen in their lives, or when they’re dealing with big feelings, Avid is among their first destinations, a place where booksellers and patrons can bear witness to whatever they want to share.

What are two books you can’t wait for people to read, or your current favorite handsells?
Briefly Perfectly Human by Alua Arthur; Liars by Sarah Manguso.

How can customers who aren’t local shop your shelves and support you?
Buy yourself one of our famous subscriptions (a twice-named best gift idea from Wirecutter!), or virtually order just about any book that’s still in print from our website. Check out our staff pages, where you can see what our different booksellers are into. Find a bookseller whose taste jives with yours? Buy a staff pick from their list, or ask if they can be your personal bookseller choosing titles if you do buy one of those subscriptions. You can find us on X & Instagram: @avidbookshop. We’re most active on IG!

Anything else you’d like to share?
We <3 Microcosm!

Be sure to follow Avid Bookshop on their socials, and click here to see their interview on the podcast!

You can read our other Bookstore Solidarity Project posts here!
And click here to get a copy of How to Protect Bookstores and Why.

Welcome to the next installment of the Bookstore Solidarity Project! Every month, we’ll be highlighting indie bookstore owners and booksellers across the country (and beyond!)

For April, we’re featuring King’s Co-op Bookstore, in Halifax!

King’s is a kickass store, which they cheekily claim is “Canada’s hardest to find indie bookstore.” It’s Halifax’s only co-op bookshop, and they’re definitely good friends to the Microcosm community.

Check out our interview with Paul below!

Your name and pronouns?
Paul MacKay, he/him

Tell us a little bit about the store and your community!
Our store was primarily created in 2006 by students who needed an easy and affordable place to buy their coursebook texts. The Foundation Year Programme at the University of King’s College is about 45 books in very specific editions and translations and it could be incredibly hard to find exactly what you needed. A group of students got together and found a free spot on campus which is quite small but special shelves were created that allowed the bookshelves to open and close and lock up so that common areas could still be usable for the bookstore. (This shows an old video showing how it works, I’ve since updated the fixtures and it looks a lot better)

We’re pretty hard to find at first, being in the basement of a building on campus, so I leaned into it and describe us as Canada’s Hardest to Find Bookstore since even google maps will only put you on campus but not right at the store. Since we’re owned by the students we’re not like usual university bookstores and we’re also a regular indie bookstore with fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, etc. We’re also totally open to the public and do special orders all the time either in store or on our website where we promote ourselves as a friendly and easy amazon alternative. We like to engage with things we think are important in the community and we like to champion books and reading, and work hard to bring authors to town who people might not usually have the chance to see.

Our standing in the community grew a lot as word of mouth got out of what we were doing during covid. Since the university closed we had to stay closed too, but I would run books outside for people and also delivered books on my bike. People really liked that idea and also were looking for ways to support local since so many businesses were struggling. Between that and a more personal approach to social media we’ve really become more of a community bookstore which was always my goal when I took over this place (about 6 years ago)

How did you choose your store’s name?
The store name was already chosen by the time I took over the store. I do appreciate it’s specificity, King’s co-op bookstore, a co-op bookstore at King’s. Does what it says on the tin.

What got you into bookselling?
This was never something I ever really intended to do. I’ve always loved books and would often cut classes in school to go hang out at the bookstore and learn things I cared about, but my real career plan was to be a musician and music professor. I picked up the guitar when I was around 18 and really took to it, earning a double major degree in music and psychology shortly after, and then went for more schooling in jazz guitar performance. That was my sole reason for being for years and it was all I cared about but eventually the strain and overuse of my arm caused repetitive strain injury that meant I had to quit playing. When I take to something I get kind of obsessive, so I was practising from about 8am to 10pm every day which my body just kind of revolted against.

I moved back home and needed to get a job quickly so I applied at the same chain bookstore i used to hang out at when I cut classes. I got hired there and would shelve books with my one good arm. I got promoted to being one of the managers of that store after a few years and during that time I met a lot of great people who introduced me to amazing books that really changed my life and that I developed a real passion for books that has only grown over the years

What’s something about your store that you think will surprise people?
I think the most surprising thing about our store is how we fold up and close down every day like we’re a pop-up shop every day. As far as I know we’re the only bookstore in the world like it, and it’s always something I show people when authors come to visit. I wasn’t around at the time the bookstore was started but I do love that it was a very DIY project with a sort of “whatever, we’ll do it ourselves” punk attitude. Bookselling is getting harder and hard nowadays and there’s a huge financial barrier to opening a bookstore or even buying one that’s for sale, so I take pride in what we’ve been able to accomplish in such a weird space without much in the way of money

What are some of you favorite ways your community supports your store?
We recently started a program with Books Beyond Bars which is a local group that works to get books to inmates in the women’s prisons here. I asked them to share their book requests with me and I put them on our website with a promo code so people can buy the books to support the program at a 20% discount.

So far we’ve managed to get them close to 100 books and we’re all really happy about it. The people supporting the program get to pay less, we help give the prisoners books they actually want to read, and the money stays the community instead of going you know where. You never know how a certain initiative will land with people and I’ve been really happy with the response this has gotten.

Outside of that, I manage all the social media for the store and people taking the time to make posts about how much they like the store or recommending us to others is always nice. They absolutely don’t need to do anything like that so if they feel the desire to do something like that you know they mean it 🙂

What are two books you can’t wait for people to read, or your current favorite handsells?
I’m really stoked for the new Hanif Abdurraqib book There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. I read an advanced copy of it and like everything he does it’s just amazing. I’m not a big sports fan at all and even I was taking breaks from reading it to watch slam dunk contents from like 30 years ago because the way he writes about them is so incredible.

Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! is easily one of my favourite fiction books in the last year too. It’s his first novel after some poetry collections, and his writing is just beautiful. Another one that I just devoured and want everybody to read.

How can customers who aren’t local shop your shelves?
Our website kingsbookstore.ca has everything on it that we have in store and we offer a flat $5 fee for shipping whether it’s 1 book or 20 books. we can also order in anything we don’t currently have also, so instead of going to the evil A they can just go to our website instead 🙂

twitter and facebook are: kingsbookstore , instagram is kingscoopbookstore , my personal instagram is @talentedruins

(Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but, most of all, endurance. – James Baldwin)

Anything else you want to share?
I won the contest for Danny Caine’s How to Resist Amazon and Why a while back which was great. I sold tons of them and also left copies at busy places in the city for people to find. Danny mentions us in the book which was a nice surprise when I was first reading it 🙂

Be sure to follow King’s Co-Op on their socials, and check back in a few weeks for their podcast episode!

You can read our other Bookstore Solidarity Project posts here!
And click here to get a copy of How to Protect Bookstores and Why.