Touring the Indies, part 2

Posted by Bill on Thursday, December 21, 2006   |   No Comments

Okay, let’s review. Last time we learned that Indies really refers to independent bookstores, members of the American Booksellers Association. We also discovered that bookstore tourism is the creation of Larry Portzline, a college professor and book lover.

Larry also defined the concept for us: “Bookstore tourism is a national grassroots movement to support independent bookstores by promoting them as a group travel niche … So loading book lovers onto a bus and taking them to visit bookstores in another city or town is a great way to raise visibility for the locally owned stores …

“It doesn’t matter if it’s 50 people in a chartered bus or five friends in a minivan … you can also incorporate literary sites into your itinerary, such as an author home or the setting of a famous novel. And you can certainly include public libraries, or college libraries with special collections, or even museums that have special literary exhibits or artifacts.”

According to American Booksellers Association, more than half of the states in the 12-state Midwest region have indies, or bookstores that are members of the association. Of course, it’s safe to assume that not all independent bookstores are members of the ABA, so there may be many more available for a tour.

Illinois leads the pack with 71. Michigan is next with 67. Wisconsin rounds out the top three in the Midwest with 52. So right there we have a total of nearly 200. There are more than six dozen more in other Midwest states. And remember, this is only counting ABA members. There may be others bookstores that are not associated with the ABA.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Western Michigan is an ideal location for mounting bookstore tourism. Once again, our location is a huge advantage. Haul out your map and take a look.

Grand Rapids is an hour north. We’re a couple of hours from Chicago and an equal distance from the Ann Arbor/Detroit area. These might be logical starting destinations because they would be easier to scout, research and plan. Besides, they’re all very doable in a day.

I’m thinking the first effort would be the toughest. But buoyed by the success of one bookstore tour and flanked by a growing group of supporters, I’m betting that each effort would get easier for local organizers.

What’s more, once it was underway, it would be fun to expand the effort into overnight excursions and target metro areas the likes of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Indianapolis or St. Louis—assuming, of course, they had suitable bookstores to visit.

Where to start