Op-Ed: Why a small town needs an independent bookstore
It was standing room only at a recent Pig City Books event in the courtyard just beyond the bookstore’s new location on Court Square. The author was Phoebe Zerwick, the book “Beyond Innocence: The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt.” While Lexington’s loud car parade boomed up Center Street at regular intervals, the audience of mixed genders, races, and ages leaned in close to hear Zerwick’s engaging story about the Winston-Salem man wrongly convicted of rape. Many attendees already gripped books, and the few that didn’t lined up afterward to place an order.
“This is my Lexington,” I thought. A place where people, both friends and strangers, can sit side by side, hearing a single story. A place where stories and people matter, where the past is still very much a part of the present.
Years ago, when my husband Bill and I were moving from town to town with the frequency of hot days in July, I had two demands of any possible new home: a Chinese restaurant and a bookstore.
It wasn’t just personal taste that determined my needs. Back then a good Chinese restaurant showed ethnic variety in the same way a Thai or authentic Mexican restaurant does today. And then and now, a bookstore is a sign of a community’s vitality.
Lexington has supported a bookstore since 1928 when the Fink family opened the store which the Frazier family bought in 1948. Kayt and Donald Huttlin bought the store from Eric and Margie Frazier in 2002, and Pandora Hamilton took over ownership in 2007, changing the name to Pandora’s and closing in 2014.
The 1995 Lexington I moved into was a different place from the Lexington of today. The economy was strong, the Dispatch (accent on patch) was the voice of the community, churches were packed with worshippers. In the mid-2000s, manufacturing began its move overseas, people, especially young people, left to find their homes elsewhere. The future of Lexington and small towns like it looked bleak and uncertain.
Add to that uncertainty the growth of online shopping, especially from amazon.com. Even large bookstore chains like Borders, Joseph-Beth, and Barnes and Noble had trouble competing. How could a small independent store be expected to survive?
And if things weren’t bad enough, Covid happened.
I’ll be the first to admit that amazon.com saved my sanity in 2020. During home restriction when it was too dangerous to go out, and so many places closed for business, I ordered everything, from my morning oatmeal to that week’s book whim. The price on amazon was better than at a brick and mortar store, and my orders arrived the next day. It was easy. It was convenient. It was lonely.
Sedley Abercrombie, former teacher and librarian, had another idea. At first a pop-up bookstore, Pig City Books made appearances at local breweries, other public events, and even occasionally on street corners. Sedley grew the bookstore gradually, eventually moving into back rooms of a clothing store on Main Street and finally in June opening the first brick and mortar store in Lexington since 2014. Tucked behind buildings off Main and Center streets, it boasts a recognizable pink door and a growing clientele.
It's bigger than it looks from the outside. In fact, Pig City Books is filled with books, from so-called “adult” reads to children’s and YA titles. If there’s a specialty, it might be local writers. So far, she’s hosted writers Val Nieman, Frank Morelli, Pandora Hamilton, and many more. To top it off, there’s a kitten named Lexi who is quick to purr and likes to rest in my palm while I browse. You won’t find a kitten at amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.
Community is good for us all, but there are more reasons Lexington needs—and should vigorously support—a bookstore:
Children and adults need books, stories, imaginations, wanderings, characters, adventures, mysteries, games. To have a bookstore owner who is a former librarian and teacher is a bonus.
A bookstore supports local economy. “Let’s stroll downtown,” I suggest to my out of town guests these days. You can spend an afternoon walking from Char’s to Lanier’s, stopping in at local favorites. The more shops we to explore, the more those dollars will stay right here in Lexington.
Simply put, as I knew back in 1995, a bookstore is a sign of a community’s vitality. Lexington has staged a comeback. Yes, small businesses will continue to struggle, but with good location (check), marketing (check), and a desired product (check), Pig City Books can make it.
It costs just a few dollars more to buy a book from Pig City, and you get so much more than online shopping offers. And when you add the price of gas it takes to drive to Winston or Greensboro, browsing a local bookstore, especially with a kitten in your hand, is a bargain.
I’m going cold turkey from amazon.com books. They’ll still be there for my preferred morning oatmeal, which I haven’t found at Food Lion, but I’ll buy my books—every single one—right here.
I’m choosing Lexington. I’m choosing Pig City Books.
