Saturday (April 27) is the 11th Annual Independent Bookstore Day. Amanda Gorman, known for her reading at the 2021 Presidential Inauguration, speaks as the Indie Bookstore Ambassador (2023-24): “Independent bookstores are vital hubs of creativity and community.”
With names like Nook & Cranny Books, Secret Garden Books, and Browsers Bookshop, independent bookstores continue to flourish — even after the threat that big box bookstores would steamroll the indie bookseller. Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks portrayed that struggle in the 1998 film “You’ve Got Mail,” in which she owned an independent book shop, and he was a book superstore magnate.
Between 2000 and 2007, more than 1,000 independent bookstores across America did close their doors. The prediction of their demise appeared to be coming to fruition. Then things changed when Borders filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and Barnes & Noble closed dozens of stores in the 2010s. Their biggest competitor: Amazon. Meanwhile, independent bookstores experienced a revival. There are reasons why readers are drawn to the small, cozy stores.
The Methow Valley is home to an independent bookstore that has “gone through a few owners, growth spurts and relocation within town,” according to Christine Janikowski, who along with Abilene Hagee co-owns the store.
Trail’s End Bookstore moved into its current location in 2016. Janikowski and her husband, Patrick, had purchased the bookstore business in 2013 from Ken Libby and Julie Tate-Libby. The store had been in the smaller space now occupied by the Meza restaurant. Two other locations on Riverside Avenue — The Wine Shed space and the former Nordic Ultratune building — had been earlier homes to the bookseller.
Book lovers, puzzle and game lovers, and kids alike find the store comfortable and cozy. Shopping at an indie book bookstore offers an experience where physical books line the shelves and invite one to pick up and read the cover. Although e-books are still popular, many people want to be in a store that sells “real books.”
Friendly outreach
The well-read staff at Trail’s End Bookstore is one of the most valuable resources a small bookstore offers. If one follows Trail’s End on social media, you will see what book employees recommend for the week — one they have read and the reasons why they recommend it. Checking the website or stopping into the store, the “Staff Picks” is a special touch that a big box store or the internet cannot replicate.
Like other small bookstores, Trail’s End depends on book sales for its bread and butter, but it also carries stationery, cards, games, and puzzles along with gift items. Diversifying is another of the reasons that independent bookstores continue to thrive. During the pandemic, Trail’s End depended upon phone and internet purchases with contactless delivery. With the loss of tourist traffic, it was a trying time for almost all local brick-and-mortar stores, but Winthrop’s indie bookseller survived to see another day.
Perhaps the primary reason for success is that independent bookstores such as Trail’s End foster community. The store hosts author readings and book launches — the most recent on April 19. Charlie J. Stephen, a PNW author, read excerpts from his debut novel “A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest” and signed copies for purchase. Events such as this provide a place for readers to commune and exchange ideas and recommendations.
Trail’s End made news in what is known as “the bible of the book business.” Publisher’s Weekly (PW), a news magazine that covers the international book publishing business, wrote about how Trail’s End Bookstore “benefited from an unplanned shipment of the ‘Fourth Wing’ special edition.” A photo of the quaint western-themed storefront graced the article.
Hagee described how the store had mistakenly received the shipment of 112 copies of a special edition of Rebecca Yarros’ 2023 bestselling book, the first in the “Empyrean” fantasy series. “They showed up, and I almost cried, because we’re more a touristy-based store in the North Cascades and not a high traffic urban shop,” Hagee told PW.
Through the magic of a viral video on social media, “We sold everything within two days,” said Hagee. “We shipped all over the world — to Australia, to France, everybody wanted it.”
Trail’s End Bookstore turned out to be the little engine that could. Celebrate Independent Bookstore Day with Winthrop’s hometown treasure.
