{"id":36537,"date":"2025-07-31T20:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T20:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/36537\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T20:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T20:11:08","slug":"the-bookseller-analog-dope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/36537\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bookseller: Analog Dope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tucked away in a small nook on E. Colorado Ave. and S. Casino Center Blvd. downtown is Analog Dope (analogdope.com<\/a>), a Black- and LGBTQ+-owned book and vinyl store. You can\u2019t miss it \u2014 a tiny, dark red, old Vegas home-style building with a cute artificial lawn.<\/p>\n

When you walk in, you\u2019re surprised all over again by how small it is \u2014 but it\u2019s a giant in terms of intention, purpose, and expression of Black culture. Analog Dope isn\u2019t just in the business of selling you stuff; it\u2019s in it to make an impact on the local community.<\/p>\n

Owners and founders Rachelle and Charlie Luster opened the store in 2022. Rachelle, originally from California, and Charlie, originally from Ohio, moved to Las Vegas permanently in 2016. They started with a website and occasional pop-ups, but for Rachelle, a bookstore was her dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve always wanted to do since I was a kid,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The Lusters are also music lovers \u2014 it\u2019s what brought them together in the first place. So, combining music and books in one space was a no-brainer. In today\u2019s digital age, physical media can feel like an afterthought, but for them, analog will always be dope-er.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnalog entertainment (can be) very grounding. It\u2019s a way to unplug from the digital world, to escape and renew yourself,\u201d Charlie says.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the store\u2019s mission is a commitment to centering and celebrating Black culture in all its forms. It\u2019s reflected on the shelves, which feature titles such as We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson; the speculative fiction novel Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler; and the poetry collection Magical Negro by Morgan Parker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember a young lady walked in, and she just broke out in tears seeing the books and faces of Black people on the covers,\u201d Rachelle says. \u201cA lot of people say (they\u2019ve) never seen a space like this before in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vinyl selection ranges from contemporary classics like Kendrick Lamar\u2019s To Pimp a Butterfly to timeless albums like Stevie Wonder\u2019s Songs in the Key of Life, and even deeper cuts like Julius Rodriguez\u2019s Let Sound Tell All.<\/p>\n

Their mission extends to the range of literary and music events they host, and collaborations they build with other local businesses. The Lusters believe that when one small business succeeds, it lifts others up, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had vendor marketplaces in our courtyard outside. We also carry some local products,\u201d Rachelle says. \u201cIt\u2019s been rewarding collaborating with other businesses, because some that we worked with during their first year are now just totally doing their own thing. It\u2019s amazing being a part of someone else\u2019s journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Analog Dope\u2019s collaborators is local painter Anecia Hargrove, who founded the visual culture brand Melanin Girl Culture. Some of her pieces are available at Analog Dope, where she\u2019s also hosted some of her events, called Girls Night In Paint and Sip.<\/p>\n

Hargrove thinks the shop\u2019s collaborative attitude is admirable in the small business landscape, where it can be every person for themselves. The focus on Black culture also sets it apart, she says, \u201cespecially when you have so many factors against you, or you don\u2019t really have the resources that others may have.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lusters plan to expand the store, and while they say the business is doing well, it\u2019s ultimately about more than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t tell you how many times a day people come in the store and they\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, my friend told me I need to come here,\u2019 or, \u2018I\u2019m from out of state, I had to stop by,\u2019\u201d Charlie says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, all those instances equal success. Yes, money is definitely a part of it, being able to keep product in the store, etcetera. But, to us, ultimate success is hearing people\u2019s excitement and the joy they get around the store.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tucked away in a small nook on E. Colorado Ave. and S. Casino Center Blvd. downtown is Analog…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-36537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}