Western Pennsylvania bookstores celebrate Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday

Lovers of reading have a chance to celebrate their favorite booksellers — and get some fun giveaways in the process — with the nationwide Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday.

Independent Bookstore Day, now in its 11th year, is an event conceived by the American Booksellers Association. Participating bookstores offer giveaways, story times, raffles, activites and sales to bring together their patrons and engage with their communities. A number of stores in the region are involved in this year’s event, and it’s a good idea to stop in to see what your neighborhood favorite is up to on Saturday. Here’s what a few local shops have cooked up to celebrate.

Chaz Palla | TribLive

Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley

Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley

“We opened in October of 1929, and so we have been in business for almost 95 years,” said Susan Hans O’Connor, owner of Penguin Bookshop. The store is named after Anatole France’s “Penguin Island,” the shared favorite book of the two original owners.

The shop has been a Sewickley institution for its entire history. The current proprietor has owned the store for about a decade, and she has a background in publishing.

“My professional life has been centered around books and authors,” she said. “Independent Bookstore Day is a great way to promote awareness of the importance of independent bookstores. You don’t have to go to a chain, you can go to a local bookstore and support your community.

“The Pittsburgh area has a lot of independent bookstores … We encourage people to shop at all the independent bookstores,” she said.

As for Independent Bookstore Day, Penguin Bookshop has some exciting plans, including special items exclusive to Independent Bookstore Day, such as special totes, special editions of particular books, Blackwing pencils made for the day and more.

They will also have delicious penguin- and book-shaped cookies, baked by one of the booksellers’ mothers.

Penguin Bookshop will also be running some sales that day. “Special sales, special items, special treats, it’s just a way to show appreciation for our community and our customers,” O’Connor said.

The store is located at 417 Beaver St. in Sewickley and can be found online at penguinbookshop.com.

Joyce Hanz | TribLive

Customers mingle at Spark Books, a children’s bookstore along Brilliant Avenue in Aspinwall.

Spark Books in Aspinwall

While Spark Books has a small young adult selection and a small adult section, they primarily serve children from birth to 12 years old.

“Bookselling and owning a place where moms and caregivers and guardians can come together with their kids around literacy is the thing I kept coming back to,” said Adriene Rister, owner of Spark Books. “I love picture books and I think picture books are for everybody. Even if you don’t have kids at home, there are so many picture books out there that you can just put on your coffee table … The illustrations just are incredible, and the stories are so profound.”

Rister is thrilled to promote all independent booksellers this Saturday.

“It’s a time for us to celebrate what makes indie bookstores so special, and that’s our customers and our community,” she said. “It’s kind of like ‘Cheers,’ everybody knows your name when you come into an indie bookstore. We remember what you love to read, we’re there for so many milestones.”

Spark Books will have kids working as “Junior Booksellers” throughout the day, spending an hour each behind the counter and giving book recommendations. There will also be raffles, bagels from Early Bird Bagels, a make-your-own-book station, a story time and a scavenger hunt.

“We just want to have a great day with the kids and with our community — we just really want to show them all some love,” she said.

Spark Books is located at 101 Brilliant Ave. in Aspinwall, and their website is sparkbookspgh.com.

One Idea Books and Gifts in Leechburg

One Idea in Leechburg opened just last year. Lindsey Smith, owner of the shop, basically grew up on the block where it’s located — her parents’ business is right next door.

“I started self-publishing my own books and fell in love with the process of publishing and the book industry,” Smith said.

She moved into traditional publishing, started her own press (One Idea Press) and became a literary agent as well. “I work in every aspect of the book business,” she said.

Smith also teaches a course on writing tiny books, typically fewer than 100 pages long.

The store caters to self-published authors along with traditional releases. “We have a tiny book section in our store and we’re very open to self-published books in our store … I think having that perspective is what really intrigued us about opening the store.

“This is something I’ve always been excited to do — I’ve always loved independent bookstores,” she said of being a part of Independent Bookstore Day. “It really shows people how precious these stores are to the communities that we live in. They host events, they give back to the community, there’s so many things that independent bookstores do for the community that often go unnoticed.”

One Idea will be hiding scratch-off golden tickets with prizes like free items and discounts. They’ll have a bookmark coloring station as well, and there will be a tiny book celebration.

“People really appreciate tiny books. They love our tiny book section,” she said.

There will also be online events, including a storytime with author Jasmine Cho.

“Some of our events will go into the following weeks as well,” she said.

Find One Idea Books and Gifts at 244 Market St., Leechburg, and online at visitoneidea.com.

Stay Gold Books in Regent Square

Stay Gold Books just celebrated its grand opening earlier this month, and now it’s celebrating Independent Bookstore Day. It is owned by former librarian Corey Wittig and his wife, Carrie, a former language arts teacher.

“We live in the neighborhood and have two little kids who are going to school in the neighborhood and so we were cooking up this dream to have our life be very local,” Wittig said.

“It’s convenient to be a physical place with real people in your neighborhood … there are real things you can hold onto and browse, it’s a really well-curated collection if I daresay,” he said of the bookshop. “There’s the opportunity for serendipity and lucking into something really cool when browsing the shelves, not to mention getting to know people in your neighborhood.

“I think a book is the best gift,” he said, but the store also sell gifts like jewelry, stationary, stickers and other items, much of which are made by local craftspeople.

On Saturday, there will be a children’s story time at 1 p.m., as well as giveaways, raffles and exclusive merchandise.

“It’s really a great opportunity to shine a light on the different people we have in our community,” Wittig said.

Stay Gold Books is located at 1104 S. Braddock Ave. Right in Regent Square. Their website is staygoldbooks.com.

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Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont

Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont

Mystery Lovers Bookshop has been around since 1990. “It’s primarily a mystery store, but we have evolved it into much more than that,” said Tara Goldberg-DeLeo, who took over the store in 2018 with co-owner Kristy Bodnar. They’ve expanded into some children’s books, general fiction titles and selling some gifts.

The store works a lot with local schools, libraries and nonprofits. They also operate several book clubs for local readers.

“Bookstores really are the cornerstone of communities,” she said. “We have the best customers in the world, honestly.”

They will have “lots of indie bookstore swag,” along with raffles, prizes and deals.

“It’s a big thank-you to our readers,” Goldberg-DeLeo said.

Visit Myster Lovers Bookshop at 514 Allegheny River Blvd., Oakmont, and on the web at mysterylovers.com.

Completely Booked in Murrysville

Completely Booked sells a wide variety of titles, from children’s books to novels and beyond. They also run a book club and host author events and story times.

For Independent Bookstore Day, they have plenty going on. “We want to thank our readers with giveaways for them, and celebrate books and Indie Bookstore Day by offering merchandise that promotes awareness of the value of independent bookstores,” said owner Camille Kovach.

They will have fun giveaways to go along with the purchase of specific books. For example, buyers of poet Rupi Kaur’s book “Milk and Honey” on that day will receive a free signed poem by the author that they can frame. With the purchase of a copy of “Children of Blood and Bone” comes a free brass bookmark.

They will also give away “mystery books” — wrapped in brown paper and labeled with the genre and a hint — with purchase.

Completely Booked will also be selling copies of a few author-signed books, including “Bubbly Beautiful Kitty Corn” by Shannon Hale and “A Stroke of the Pen” by Terry Pratchett, as well as “The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America.”

Completely Booked is located at 201 Blue Spruce Way in Murrysville. Their website is completelybookedstore.com.