On Saturday morning, large and small Philadelphia bookstores opened their doors to venturers pathfinding their way toward their next reads for the second annual Philly Bookstore Crawl.
“I hadn’t even heard of the Philly Book Crawl but it’s really lovely,” said Matthew Douglas, a resident of the Art Museum neighborhood as he knelt on the floor browsing the shelves at The Wooden Shoe on South Street near 7th.
The day drew crowds of book lovers into 40 businesses across the region on Saturday.
The book crawl allowed readers to create their own path between Philadelphia bookstores, grabbing free products, attending special events and listening to author readings along the way. Several stores who hosted book crawl events reported record-breaking days of sales and inventory sell-outs.
“It’s probably one of the biggest sales days for us,” said Carl Crafk, owner of The Wooden Shoe.
The Wooden Shoe is a volunteer-run shop with a selection of books and music that focus on anarchy and “radical literature.” Crafk brought out free posters and postcards for the event, which attracted customers like Douglas.
Participating stores hosted events like evening percussion music at Partners and Son, an independent comic store on 6th Street near Kater, where shoppers could listen to live music while leafing through a selection of comics.
The day also encouraged business collaborations: customers of Molly’s Books & Records on 9th Street near Kimball who purchased the Monster-Building Handbook gained access to a workshop next door at Binding Agents, a “cook and book” shop.
“I cannot believe how many people it brought out,” said Molly Russakoff, owner of Molly’s Books & Records.
Russakoff operates the store in the Italian Market neighborhood alongside her husband, Joe, and son, Johnny. They handpick the store’s stock of books and music selection and purchase records from customers for second-hand sale.
“I wouldn’t miss this, the crawl is really fun,” Russakoff said.
This event served as a community builder to help Philadelphians get to know their local book shops.
“We have a good, strong business, but to see the amount of people, it was very heartening,” Russakoff said.
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