Book lovers in central Arkansas may have noticed all the new bookstores popping up here and there. Is this some central Arkansas phenomenon or is all of Arkansas experiencing a bookseller boom?
We set off to find out. We spent time with local booksellers to learn more and along the way compiled a list of independent bookstores currently operating all over the Natural State.
Written by Jessica Crenshaw
Photographs by Brian Chilson
Dozens of important authors and acclaimed poets have called Arkansas home. Writers like John Gould Fletcher, Charles Portis, Maya Angelou, John Grisham, Dee Brown, Shirley Abbot, E. Lynn Harris, Miller Williams, Henry Dumas, C.D. Wright, Patricia Spears Jones… It’s an impressive list. With such a rich literary heritage, it’s not much of a surprise that Arkansas boasts a healthy number of independent bookstores and literary events of all kinds.
Little Rock is home to a twenty-four year old festival dedicated to books and book authors.
The Six Bridges Book Festival began as the Arkansas Literary Festival in 2002. Yes, it’s still here, with this year’s festival scheduled for September 27- October 4. Last weekend, in Conway, the Arkansas Authors’ Children’s Book Festival featured children’s authors and illustrators from across the state. Arkansas Tech University in Russellville held a “Lit Fest” earlier this year and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway hosted an “ArkaText Festival.” Northwest Arkansas is home to the NWA Book Fest nonprofit, this year hosting a Book Fest Kids Day on June 7.
The next date on local booklovers’ calendars is Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 25. Per the American Booksellers Association, the day is marked on the last Saturday of April and is “a national one-day party” that celebrates indie bookshops across the country.
“Independent bookstores are opening everywhere,” says Lynne Phillips, one of the owners of Little Rock’s oldest bookstore, WordsWorth Books. Three new bookstores opened in central Arkansas last year, and Lynne says more are slated to open in the coming months. “The independent bookstore scene is vibrant and growing!” It’s not just a local trend.
The demand for independent bookstores is on the rise nationwide.
Business Insider reports that about 1,500 new independent bookstores have opened across the country over the past five years and more than 400 opened last year alone. The expanding Northwest Arkansas book scene has drawn the attention of The Southern Bookseller Review, spotlighting new bookstores opening in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville. In a place like Little Rock, though, you’d think all of these stores would be in fierce competition with one another, but that’s not the case. The 4th annual Rock Cities Book Crawl is the joint effort of eight local bookstores to celebrate Independent Bookstore Day.
“It’s exciting,” says Garbo Hearne, owner of Pyramid Art, Books & Custom Framing at 1001 Wright Avenue. For 38 years, the gallery and bookstore have been a bastion of African American literature, lifting up local authors and artists. “Each of us has our niche,” Garbo says, “and we work together.” She says the local bookselling community works together well. “If I don’t have a book, I’ll send you one to someone who does.”
Pyramid Art, Books & Custom Framing has called the Historic Dunbar neighborhood home for the last fifteen years after being located in various spots in downtown Little Rock. “I think this was the best move we ever made because of the fact that we’re in a neighborhood. Dunbar Middle School—there would be no Little Rock Nine without Dunbar Middle School because that’s where they all went there before attending Central,” she gestures, pointing across the street. “The Sue Cowen Williams Library, the Allison Presbyterian Church. What better neighbors could you have? This corner was just waiting for us.”
The store has a reputation for being on the front edge of literature.
One of the first book signings she hosted was E. Lynn Harris, Little Rock native who authored ten consecutive books that made The New York Times Best Seller list. Garbo invited him to hold his first book signing at her store.“He was selling books out of the back of his car and I knew him because he was a good friend of my brother’s,” she says. “He’s one of those success stories. Because we supported him, he demanded that he start all of his book tours in Little Rock.” Most recently, the store hosted Dana A. Williams, author of Toni at Random, about writer Toni Morrison.
Garbo says “being a service” has kept her in business. “Our focus has always been black culture, but we can order any book.” The store provides books for book clubs and hosts book club meetings. “We kind of figure out ways to do things,” she says. The store hosts “Wisdom Wednesdays: Retired and Ready” events where each week a different topic and book is explored with eager-to-learn, retired participants. On the day we visited, the topic was artificial intelligence.
A pop-up to brick-and-mortar success story.
“I’m so impressed,” says Lisa Hulett, owner of Sammy’s Bookshelf, a newcomer to the Arkansas bookseller scene and a bright and airy escape located right next door to Community Bakery in the Market Street Shopping Center at 11121 North Rodney Parham Road, Suite 13A. “Arkansas has a lot of great bookstores, and we’re all supportive of one another. That’s very inspiring.”
Lisa says a passion for books fueled her business plan. “I decided I wanted a change of career. I love books, and I started thinking about working at a bookstore.” Lisa’s idea evolved and in 2024, she began hosting pop-up bookstores and started scouting for a permanent location. The store will celebrate its first year in business in July this year. She says being a business owner wasn’t at the forefront of her mind. “I toyed around with the idea of making it a nonprofit at first, really trying to figure out a way to get books into book desert areas in Arkansas.”
Putting that idea on the back burner for the moment, Lisa and her team have created a welcoming space for children and adults alike. “We really made an effort to have half kids and half adult books. We’re a small store, so we try to curate well.” She says families were a focus when developing the look and interior feel of the store. The wardrobe door near the back of the store is an enchanting nod to C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. “Our big thing was kind of having it be very family friendly, and when kids come in, they’re welcome in all parts of the store.”
A local mainstay central Arkansas book readers know and love is WordsWorth Books.
“WordsWorth Books has been in business since 1988, when Kari Whisenhunt bought Paperback Writer from Rod Lorenzen,” Lynne says of the store’s lineage. “Jean Cazort bought the store in the early ‘90s. Lia Lent and Tom McGowan bought it from Jean in 2017.”
In 2019, Lynne became an owner after working on staff for a year and half. “Kandi [West] became managing owner in 2023 after being a bookseller for several years. Kandi, Lia, and I are currently the owners and stewards of this generations-old independent bookstore,” she explains. The store’s success and longevity recently received national attention.
Located at 5920 R Street in The Heights, WordsWorth Books is a general interest bookstore and doesn’t focus on a particular genre. “We do have an excellent selection of books about Arkansas and by Arkansans that we are proud of,” Lynne says. The store manages a robust calendar including author events, store book clubs, story times, wine and book pairing events, and more. After more than 30 years in the same location, WordsWorth Books very recently updated their interior with new carpet, paint, and check out counter. The store was only closed for six days during the transformation.
Another pop-up to brick-and-mortar success story.
Beautywood Books at 1704 North Main Street in North Little Rock is another relatively new bookstore. Owners Jo and Jon Reinbold have taken an active role in helping nurture the feeling of connectedness and community running through all the bookstores we visited. “I felt very welcomed by the other bookstores in the area,” Jo explains. Organizer and creator of the River Cities Book Crawl, now in its fourth year, Jo was inspired by a book crawl in Brooklyn, New York. “When April of our first year of being a bookstore was approaching, we had this harebrained idea, ‘What if we did that too?’”
Jo says local favorite Paper Hearts Bookstore in Little Rock’s Pettaway Park neighborhood was taking shape about the same time. “We were doing pop-ups at the same events,” Jo says. “So I knew Little Rock and North Little Rock had a strong independent bookstore presence. And I was like, we’re not Brooklyn, but maybe we can do our own version of this!” Jo timidly reached out to the other stores. Everyone was enthusiastically on board and the first ever book crawl was a surprising success. “The response from the reading community just blew everyone away.”
The collaborative book crawl was a way they could publicly highlight their partnership.
“We do support each other. We want you to go to the other bookstores. We want it,” she laughs. “We are not in competition with each other.” Jo says the positive response was well worth the work. “It was really, really refreshing for everyone and it has just grown from there.”
Beautywood Books started as an online bookstore and moved to a brick and mortar space in 2022. Since then, the store has sought out and built partnerships with community organizations, offering food and support to community members. Jo believes listening to other’s needs is the key to being a constructive part of any community. “Beautywood is only as important as the community says it is,” she shares. “If we’re not reflecting the needs of our community, then we’re not doing it right.” Partnerships are important, too. “There are so many other people and organizations and businesses who meet the community’s needs in so many different ways. We’re all supposed to work together.” Jo says she’s always seen the bookstore as a resource. “I think of Beautywood as a part of this community web.”
Lisa at Sammy’s Bookshelf says the folks at Beautywood Books and their collective “are the real deal.” She says they are truly community-focused and didn’t have to invite other local bookstores to participate, but they did. “They talk the talk and walk the walk,” she says.
How can so many shops selling books co-exist peacefully and be successful in a state as small and rural as Arkansas?
“I think it’s partly because people are hungry for ‘third’ spaces and bookstores provide that,” offers Lynne. She says she thinks younger generations are more tuned into the local scene, and “feel a commitment to support small independent businesses.” Garbo says book people are special people. “People who want to buy books, buy books,” she says. “People are very loyal. You know, there are people who buy books from us that could easily order from Amazon, but they don’t. And we appreciate that.”
Spend the Day Hopping the River and Reading
All eight booksellers participating in the 4th annual River Cities Book Crawl on Saturday, April 25, have special events planned for the day. There are fun activities scheduled at the bookstores we visited, including an “Arkansas Author Marathon” at Pyramid Books with a different local author featured every hour. WordsWorth Books challenges visitors to find the Golden Ticket hidden somewhere in the shop to win audiobook credits. Visitors can complete an in-store scavenger hunt for prizes and pose at a special selfie station. Look for the Golden Ticket at Sammy’s Bookshelf, too. While there get your face painted from 10-12 or shop the Shannon Jewelry popup from 3-6. Follow the event on Instagram and Facebook.
Jessica Crenshaw serves as Editor in Chief and Director of Programming at Arkansas Strong. A self-proclaimed “Arkansawyer,” she enjoys writing about interesting people and beautiful places in her home state. She was the Independence County 4-H BB Gun Champion in 1988 and at the age of 12 was awarded a Grand Champion prize at the Independence County Fair for her cornbread-making skills.
Award-winning photojournalist Brian Chilson received his degree in Journalism from Webster University.. He’s photographed in venues all over the state, capturing snapshots of high-profile acts like Justin Bieber and lesser-known talents like Valerie June. He is in courthouses, legislative committee rooms, and on the sidelines in football stadiums. He was in the streets during the protests following the murder of George Floyd and in hospital wards during the onset of COVID-19.
