Your local bookstore may just become your new favorite hangout. There’s plenty of handwringing over the livelihood of small business book stores, thanks to the rise of digital reading and online retailers. But book shops nationwide are gearing up to stay open by serving boozy beverages alongside all of your favorite novels. As Publisher’s Weekly reports, these bookstore-bar hybrids have “led to more new bookstores being opened than closed… with older viable bookstores finding new and younger owners and expanding their size.”
In a time where reading has become low on many people’s priority lists, book shops are looking to other ways to keep their doors open in addition to offering alcohol, such as running camps, courses, and themed events to draw consumers in. Publisher’s Weekly reports that Barnes and Noble is even discussing the possibility of opening fully operating restaurants, serving up beer and wine inside their mega bookstores. Beer, Wine, and Spirits alongside the latest New York Times best-seller? You can certainly count us in. Because really, who doesn’t love curling up with a good book and an even better drink?
