LANSING, Mich. — Bookshops in Downtown Lansing and REO Town came together on Saturday for the city's first ever book crawl.
“This started because this past year or so there’s been a huge boom of indie bookshops all along Washington Avenue," said Casey Holland, co-owner of Wayfaring Booksellers.
She and other independent bookstore owners in the area noticed an influx of new stores over the last year.
“So we all kind of realized that at this time of such a big boom of indie bookshops," she said. "Why don't we all do something to support each other and have this big event to encourage people to visit all of these really unique and awesome stores?"
There are six stops on the book crawl, all along Washington Avenue, like Socialight Society owned by Nyshell Lawrence.
“The foot traffic has been amazing, we started at 11 but there were actually people who were coming in before then at 10 oclock...It’s been really fun to watch everybody just going from shop to shop," Lawrence said.
Participants in the book crawl collected pins at each of the participating bookshops; A Novel Concept, Deadtime Stories, Socialight Society, Summit Comics and Games, The Robin Books and Wayfaring Booksellers.
“You get that pin either by making purchases or by buying the pin for a dollar and then once you collect all of them you can get a limited edition tote bag which features all the stores who are participating today," Lawrence said.
Adriana Wagner who went on the book crawl with her mom Gretchen says the crawl was a fun way for her to get into book stores she hadn't been in before.
“I only really know about Deadtime Stories, I spend a lot of time in Reotown but it just looked really cute," she said.
Dylan Rogers co-owner of The Robin Books tells me the store saw upwards of 500 visitors during the crawl. He calls Lansing's first ever book crawl a "crazy success."
Want to see more local news? Visit the FOX47News Website.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox.
Select from these options: Neighborhood News, Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines, and Daily Forecasts.
