That's Novel Books held its grand opening party on February 28, 2020. Two weeks later, the doors closed.
Owner Alyssa had waited her whole life for that day, and she calls herself a quintessential book nerd. She was the kid who returned stacks of library books after reading them all in a few days, the one who ran into things while walking and reading, and the teen on her school's Battle of the Books team. The pandemic hit just as her used bookstore opened. They hung on anyway, and now the shop is at Camp North End, the 76-acre revitalized industrial site at 330 Camp Road.
It's a used bookstore with a good selection of formerly loved books, plus a small shelf of new books by local Charlotte authors. A Blind Date with a Used Book subscription mails you a monthly surprise, and you choose the three genres. The shop makes embroidered merch with Charlotte small businesses, hosts book signings (one comes with live acoustic music), and produces the Books & BS Podcast. The booksellers also post their picks on the blog, from cozy reads to books that changed their lives.
Reading can be solitary, and the shop wants it to come with company: a quiet place to read, and a community to debrief afterward.
Oh, you're reading again? That's novel.
