Alexandra Kennon
Red Stick Reads in its original location.
“On the endangered species list” is how The New Yorker critic Louis Menand described independent bookstores pre-pandemic; between 1998 and 2020, he says, over half of them in our country went out of business. Our world was one turning ever-increasingly toward the temptations of convenience offered by the possibilities of digital commerce, and there seemed little room in it left for such time-sucking frivolities as perusing physical bookshelves.
But then, of course, came the shift. In a world still reawakening from the shock and still of the COVID-19 pandemic, the screen lost some of its luster, big box stores became disenchanting, the concept of community became newly vital, and experiences became appreciated all anew. This has, somewhat delightfully, resulted in a renaissance for the boutique independent bookstore. In May 2024, the American Booksellers Association reported that membership had increased by over two hundred since last year, bringing it to nearly double the numbers of 2016. In Louisiana, the Association lists twenty-three independent bookstores currently.
We can see evidence of this newly fertile environment for the indie bookstore right here at home. Recent expansions and openings across the region suggest that Louisiana readers are keeping their indie bookstores healthy, and even growing.
Earlier this year, for instance, when an out-of-state job opportunity forced James Colvin and Bryan Dupree to put their beloved downtown Lafayette bookstore on the market—the ideal buyers emerged in no time. John and Michelle Cavalier, who have owned and operated Cavalier House Books in Denham Springs since 2009, purchased the shop with a promise to keep its spirit intact. At the same time, since opening in August as a second location of Cavalier House Books, John has opened up the space, started outfitting a dedicated corner for author events, and added to the store’s inventory.
[Read this: "An ode to the indie bookstore"]
Likewise, in Baton Rouge, booksellers James and Tere Hyfield are prepping their own expansion. Set to inhabit a new location (a two-minute drive from the old one, still in the heart of Mid City, right behind Baton Rouge Music Studios) by the end of this year, Red Stick Reads will now enjoy twice the space of its former 700-square-foot home. The new space will include a dedicated room for book club and event use, as well as a café serving coffee and tea—making it better suited for readers to come and stay awhile.
And then as recently as early October, a brand new bookstore opened up in Breaux Bridge—Bridge Street Books, which will offer a curated selection of rare books, classics, and new releases in a historic building downtown shared with local floral designers Boho Blooms.
"It all boils down to community and identity," says John Cavalier. "After Covid, Ida, Laura, Alton Sterling, Nick Tullier, never ending elections, social media, the Rants and Raves trend, and the Floods of 2016 ...we've all aged about twenty years in the past decade. Community and identity are what we crave in the midst of chaos and confusion. South Louisiana has never been in short supply of either, and community and identity just so happen to be the specialty of independent bookstores. We sell books, but more importantly we're a community space where all ideas and all people commingle and do so respectfully. We believe in the communities we foster and they believe in us. We want to foster more of that and we believe everyone else does too."
Support your local bookstores at cavalierhousebooks.com, redstickreads.com, and find Bridge Street Books on Facebook.
