Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
Fishtown Books opened last weekend, the neighborhood\u2019s fifth bookstore<\/a>. In Manayunk, one couple opened<\/a> two bookstores on the same street. The August opening<\/a> of a West Chester<\/a> fantasy shop wrapped a line around the building, ending early when the shelves were nearly emptied.<\/p>\n Across Greater Philadelphia, bookstores are back.<\/p>\n And despite the growing competition, many sellers said sales are up, mirroring national trends: The Association of American Publishers<\/a> found the number of books sold via physical retail grew almost 34% over the past five years, outpacing online retail.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not plan for it to be so busy,\u201d said Jackie Botto, 41, of Capricorn Books, which expanded its Jenkintown<\/a> storefront in July. \u201cWe\u2019ve almost doubled our business.\u201d<\/p>\n Screen fatigue, a hunger for community, and a desire to support local businesses are fueling the surge, said sellers \u2014 many of whom are investing in niche genres and hosting creative events to meet their customers\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n Readers are reading, book people say<\/p>\n The reading boom isn\u2019t limited to stores. At Jenkintown and Abington libraries \u2014 which sit along the same corridor as Capricorn and a new Barnes & Noble \u2014 patronage is growing, and both<\/a> libraries<\/a> are mulling expansion.<\/p>\n Adult print circulation is up 10% in Abington<\/a>, and children\u2019s circulation is up 50% since last year. \u201cPeople are consuming more literature and media in general,\u201d said Abington\u2019s head of circulation Marcus Palm.<\/p>\n And parents are prioritizing reading for themselves and their kids, said the Abington library director Elizabeth Fitzgerald: \u201cThere is a bit of backlash to the doomscrolling.\u201d<\/p>\n At Bookmarks in West Chester, some customers have tried ebooks and are returning to print.<\/p>\n \u201cThey spend all day working on the computer,\u201d owner Lisa Strohl said. \u201cThey\u2019re tired of being on the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n But some apps like TikTok \u2014 and its algorithmic niche known as BookTok \u2014 are also driving readers to the stacks.<\/p>\n BookTok and tailored offerings draw young readers<\/p>\n \u201cThe screen is helping them get back into reading,\u201d said Charity Herndon, owner of Austen\u2019s Shelf<\/a> in Bordentown. \u201c[BookTok] was the only way to reach the younger generation of readers.\u201d<\/p>\n Sellers like Herndon and Anthony Long \u2014 who opened Thrillerdelphia in Manayunk<\/a> last year after helping his wife open romance-focused Cupid\u2019s down the street \u2014 are using both digital and analog strategies to turn new customers into loyal fans by delivering the community hubs they crave.<\/p>\n In a recent Instagram reel, a Thrillerdelphia staffer played a guitar riff<\/a> to match each book cover he displayed. In November, the store is hosting<\/a> the horror punk band Blitzkid, a member of which is also an author.<\/p>\n \u201cI know my customers,\u201d Long said. \u201cYou can get the eyeballs, but you have to build the intrigue and make people want to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n Active support from local residents is key, many sellers said. Literary agent Eric Smith decided to start the Philadelphia Book Crawl<\/a> a few years ago. It\u2019s become a kind of Black Friday for bookstores; several said it\u2019s their best day of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m terribly invested in how things go for our local indie bookstores,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI want to see them thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n Barnes & Noble is back<\/p>\n Some credit TikTok<\/a> with helping to revive a declining Barnes & Noble, which opened<\/a> more than 60 stores last year and plans another 60 by the end of 2026 after years<\/a> of losses<\/a> and an acquisition<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201c[BookTok] was absolutely a key point, especially during COVID,\u201d said Barnes & Noble Vice President Janine Flanigan. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen the conversations around books the way we see them now.\u201d<\/p>\n The chain has taken notice of successful indies: a press release<\/a> for the new store in Abington \u2014 where a Barnes & Noble had closed more than a decade ago \u2014 highlighted plans for local author events and book clubs.<\/p>\n The Abington store\u2019s stock will be selected more locally, Flanigan said. \u201cThe store managers are deciding what to put in front of their customer.\u201d<\/p>\n The private equity-owned company\u2019s shift<\/a> to localized control only highlights the value of independent sellers, said Buffy Hastings, a co-owner of Farley\u2019s Bookshop in New Hope.<\/p>\n \u201cThey got beat by us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Botto, who owns Capricorn Books near the new Abington Barnes & Noble and has fond childhood memories of the chain, is optimistic that there\u2019s room for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cLooking at our numbers we have no reason to be worried, which is great,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n People buying books despite affordability crisis<\/p>\n Richard De Wyngaert, whose Queen Village store Head House opened during the online and big-box-bookstore boom of the early aughts, said those initial customers would always compare him to online vendors.<\/p>\n \u201cPrice was all that mattered,\u201d he said. \u201cThat two-dollar savings.\u201d<\/p>\n But a few years ago, he noticed a shift \u2014 \u201ca new generation who wasn\u2019t raised to think you had to match Amazon,\u201d De Wyngaert said. \u201cBy then, we all knew the horrors.\u201d<\/p>\n Sellers say book prices have shot up in recent months, but the customers keep coming.<\/p>\n The relative price hike for other consumer luxuries like airfare<\/a> may be part of the reason: The consumer price index for \u201crecreational books\u201d<\/a> has yet to return to its 30-year peak in 2009.<\/p>\n \u201cI have seen this summer someone who\u2019s like \u2018I can\u2019t go on vacation, so I\u2019m going to read about Italy\u2019,\u201d Herndon of Austen\u2019s Shelf said.<\/p>\n Readers want to \u2018escape\u2019, booksellers say <\/p>\n The genres driving much of the growth in stores with broad selections, sellers said, are romance \u2014 especially when mixed with fantasy, a subgenre known as romantasy \u2014 and horror.<\/p>\n There are also the blockbuster books they can\u2019t keep in stock, like the sci-fi fantasy series Dungeon Crawler Carl, and a return to the classics.<\/p>\n What these books have in common, sellers said, is they\u2019re totally disconnected from everyday life \u2014 or, as Hastings put it, \u201cthe realities of living in America in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n The bestsellers at Austen\u2019s Shelf are \u201cbooks that allow people to escape,\u201d Herndon said. \u201cPeople just want to tuck themselves into a different world.\u201d<\/p>\n When Head House opened in 2005, \u201cpeople thought I was nuts,\u201d De Wyngaert said. \u201cToday you see bookstores \u2026 springing up everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201cgood news,\u201d he added, \u201cfor a world that needs some good news.\u201d<\/p>\n This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer\u2019s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com\/donate<\/a>. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org\/supporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n