Indie Bookstore Week

by | Jul 24, 2010 | Daily Writings | 4 comments

Red BalloonToday I am spotlighting The Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul MN. Now you might be wondering why since I live in Canada and it’s in Minnesota – not exactly my neighbourhood bookshop. It could be because of their fun tweets about children’s story hour. Or because they clearly love books. Or? Actually, it’s because of Betsy and Tacy. A few years ago, okay 8 years ago, I went to Minneapolis to visit friends. One of them took me to St. Paul to see The Red Balloon Bookshop. If you can believe it, this friend had three teenage daughters who had NEVER READ BETSY AND TACY!!!! Well, I like to think of my friend as a good father, but this, I found appalling. I mean, they lived in Minnesota! How crazy is that? Luckily, The Red Balloon Bookshop was not lacking in Betsy-Tacy books and I left there with the first two, which I promptly presented to these teens with strict instructions to read them, even if they were for five year olds. Alas, I don’t know if the three girls, now grown, are Betsy-Tacy fans or not, but at least when they have daughters of their own, they will know what it means to be a true Minnesotan and they will get the Betsy-Tacy books at The Red Balloon Bookshop for them.

4 Comments

  2. Mags T.
    Mags T. on July 24, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    As a Twin Cities resident, I love

    @redballoonbooks
    http://www.redballoonbookshop.com
    especially their wonderful birthday program for kids!

    Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis
    http://www.wildrumpusbooks.com
    in case I’m on the West side of the Cities

    But particularly Valley Bookseller in Stillwater, MN
    http://www.valleybookseller.com

    With little kids in tow, I haven’t made the trip to Common Good Books yet 🙂 But I may have to make a priority of it if I win!
    @commongoodbooks
    http://www.commongoodbooks.com

    My favorite indie stores outside my home state are:

    VRomans in Pasadena, CA (AWESOME place!)
    @vromans
    http://www.vromansbookstore.com

    and

    Anderson’s in Naperville / Downers Grove, IL, who put on the absolute best Harry Potter parties when Rowling released books 4 – 7!
    @andersonsbkshp
    http://www.andersonsbookshop.com

  3. tanabata
    tanabata on July 24, 2010 at 9:55 am

    I’m living in Japan right now but I’m from Victoria and one of my first stops whenever I’m in town is, of course, Munro’s (http://www.munrobooks.com/index.cfm).

    Then I also always stop by Bolen Books (http://bolen.bc.ca/) a time or two.

    I’ll be visiting Victoria later this summer and I can’t wait to spend some time browsing and shopping at both of those. I don’t know if it counts as an Indie but The Book Depository (http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/) is a lifesaver to me in Japan.

    I also retweeted your tweet about it being the last day to enter.