The Reading Room, a bookstore-bar hybrid, is set to open soon at 3210 Brainerd Road, in the Old Town section of Brainerd.
Owner Linden Marno-Feree, who has experience in both bookselling and bartending, said she aimed to create a unique space that combined the two industries.
“When you read about authors, especially American authors, of the last 100, 150 years, they’re drinkers,” she said. “Also, the vibe of a cool used bookstore and of a funky, divey bar are very similar. So I decided to marry the two of them.”
The hybrid model also makes the business more economically sustainable, Marno-Feree said.
While working at the Harvard bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she saw how the rise of Amazon really started to threaten the survival of the industry.
(READ MORE: Mad Priest christens new McCallie Avenue space with event Saturday)
“I’ve worked in several bars that, like a lot of them, also haven’t had an easy time staying alive,” she said. “So it feels like to combine revenue streams is really the way to go. They have to buttress each other.”
Another goal was to create a mellow bar atmosphere that’s lacking in Chattanooga, a place where people can drink and just hang out with their friends, read a book, space out or look at pictures.
“I think of it as like a little oasis, a place where you can really escape the day-to-day grind and take a break,” Marno-Feree said. “In Chattanooga in particular, we don’t have a lot of spaces where people can relax in a bar. A bar is seen as a space to get rowdy and party, and that’s not what bars are in some other cities.”
She said she chose Brainerd because she considers it a frontier, with the Brainerd tunnel serving as a border that seems to separate it from downtown and the rest of the city.
“We’re putting them together, letting everyone know it’s all Chattanooga,” she said. “We’ve reached a point in Chattanooga where a lot of places are being sort of overpriced and built up, and it’s time for this area to blossom “
Residential areas surround both sides of Brainerd Road, which doesn’t have many food and beverage options, Marno-Feree said.
Books line the walls from floor to ceiling of the 1,000-square-foot space, which seats about 40. Options include small tables for two, booths made from church pews and a larger table for a group.
The books now filling the shelves were purchased from Chattanooga Public Library Foundation sales, but Marno-Feree said that once those start to clear out, she plans to create a system to allow people to sell their books for cash or credit.
“Books are like clothes,” she said. “It turns out everybody buys a lot of them and then doesn’t know what to do with them after they’ve read them or used them.”
Patrons are welcome to read books at the bar without buying them, but they have to pay for books they take with them, Marno-Feree said.
The build-out of the space was done by Brian Hennen and Lewis Armistead, who also did the build-out of Boneyard bar on downtown Chattanooga’s Station Street.
Armistead and Hennen are opening another hybrid business, a bar and music store called Shredder’s Lair, a block down from the Reading Room, she said.
A pizza place is also opening on the same stretch of Brainerd Road, and Marno-Feree plans to offer pizza from the new restaurant once it’s established.
To start, the Reading Room will have three employees serving drinks from the full bar, as well as coffee, tea and other nonalcoholic drinks.
Hours of operation will be from noon to midnight Thursday through Saturday, but she plans to eventually be open seven days a week.
The opening of the business was delayed by two weeks to finalize approval by the Chattanooga Beer Board, Marno-Feree said, and people can follow the Reading Room’s Instagram to be informed of the opening date.
Contact business reporter Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.