Featured Store: Third Place Books

Third Place staff members are over the moon about introducing people to new books.

Third Place Books has participated in our matched book drives during Independent Bookstore Days and Banned Books Week for a couple of years now. They also maintain an online wish list of books we need year-round. Rosa Hernandez talks about building community, one book at a time.

How did you begin working with Books to Prisoners?

If I remember correctly I think B2P reached out to us and it felt like a natural fit to work with you all.

What makes your store different from other bookstores in Seattle?

We are very lucky to live in a city with so many incredible bookstores. I love how there is a bookstore for every kind of reader. We currently have three locations and I think each one reflects their community of readers. We sell new and used books, we have daily events at our three locations, and we have our Books To Students fund that helps get books into kids hands.

How has your store changed in the time you've worked there? How would you like to see it change in the future?

I've been at Third Place Books for almost 7 years. Besides operational changes, I think the core of what Third Place Books provides to our community has only expanded. I think in the early months of the COVID shutdown really strengthen our team here and our customers were reminded how important community places like our bookstores are. Even when our physical stores were closed, we were still able to provide books to folks via online orders. The support shown during that really difficult time was tremendous and I think in the future I would just love for us to continue to do what we are doing and getting more books in folk's hands.

How does your store interact with your physical community? Your cultural community?

Just keeping our doors open helps us interact with our physical community on an everyday basis but it's our events series that really gives us prime opportunity to engage with our community. From our small to our large 800 person events, we provide a space for folks to not only meet their favorite author but to spend time with their neighbors. We also do a yearly pop-up bookshop at Green Lake park in the summer to help raise money for Seattle Public Theater and last year we hosted our first large silent reading gathering at Seattle Center. We also have wonderful relationships with Seattle Arts and Lectures and Seattle and King County Public Library. If there is an opportunity to interact with folks outside the store, we tend to take it!

How has your store managed to adapt and survive in an environment dominated by internet booksellers and national chains?

I think folks crave a place to go and gather outside their homes and workplaces. Our bookstores provide what the internet can't and that's real face to face time with our booksellers and with each other. We also try to be as creative as possible whether through social media, school author visits, book fairs and of course our killer book recommendations.

Is there anything else you want the readers of our newsletter to know about your store?

Community is a gift and that's what we want folks to remember so go out and support your local indie bookstores, public libraries and of course organizations like Books to Prisoners.

You can buy new books to donate any time by visiting our wish list at Third Place Books.

Third Place Books also has three retail locations in Seattle,

Ravenna at 6504 20th Ave NE,

Seward Park at 5041 Wilson Ave S,

Lake Forest Park at 17171 Bothell Way NE