So this weekend? I officially signed a lease for Nowhere Bookshop (and bar).
Technically I couldn’t do this without you so I think that means that you just signed a lease on a bookstore too so I am mentally high-fiving you on our ability to take risks while also begging you to tell me that it’s all going to be okay because JESUSCHRISTWEBOUGHTABOOKSHOP.
*deep breath*
Sorry. Okay. Here are the details. The good news is that it’s in Alamo Heights, which is a cool part of San Antonio and it’s really big so that means we’ll have plenty of room for signings and author events and community meetings and book clubs and drag queen story hour and Beyonce. The bad news is that it needs a shit-ton of work. Like, new floors, and some walls have to come down and others up and we have to add a wheelchair ramp and some accessible bathrooms and a bar and it needs paint and furniture and a liquor license. And books, I guess. And customers.
I am totally overwhelmed but I have great people to help me (more on that soon) and it feels like people really care so fingers crossed I didn’t just make a terrible mistake. There were stories in the newspaper and the San Antonio Current and William Shatner sang to me, so it’s been a strange couple of days.
I suspect it’ll take until the end of the year before we open. I have ideas for fun things we can do before that but I need to plan a bit more on the details. I will totally be asking for help though so if you live close maybe a small horde of you can show up and we can all paint it together when it’s closer to being done. I want to do a mural outside but I haven’t really found an artist that matches the weird/dark esthetic I want so if all else fails I’ll draw something and project it on the walls and then we’ll just have a giant, community paint-by-number party until we get arrested for vandalism and public intoxication. If you’re good at painting tentacles please see me because there’s gonna be tentacles. And maybe ravens and cat heads. I’m still thinking.
And there will be lots of ways to be a part of the bookstore even if you don’t live anywhere near Texas. You are part of this family whether you like it or not. (But I hope you like it.)
PS. I want to have food because you need food if you’re drinking but I don’t want cooked food so what do you usually crave when you’re reading a great book and drinking a glass of wine? Cookies? Scones? Pie? Popcorn? Those long licorice ropes that you can use as an edible straw?