Hub City Bookshop

186 W. Main St.

Spartanburg, SC 29306  

My favorite independent bookstore is Hub City Bookshop in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  I’ve been in love with books and reading for as long as I can remember.  For me, reading is about engaging with the world—with other times, other places, other people, and other ideas through the pages of books.  Independent bookstore nourish that kind of engagement better than any other retail outlets.

Don’t get me wrong:  I’m happy that people buying books anywhere, but I find that shopping at my independent bookstore both deepens and broadens my reading experience.  As I browse the shelves, I chat with other patrons and the clerks about the books.  The manager of Hub City Bookshop has excellent purchasing savvy, and she stocks the store with lots of fascinating titles I don’t see other places, not even my public library.  What’s more, she knows my tastes and my interests, and she’s always on the lookout for a new title I will enjoy. At Hub City Bookshop, I attend readings and get turned on to writers whose work I might not encounter in any other setting.  These things just don’t happen at the big bookseller across town, and they sure don’t happen on-line or at the big box store with its discounted bestsellers.

My favorite thing about Hub City Bookshop is the fact that it is a non-profit bookstore.  It was founded by the Hub City Writers Project, an organization that has nurtured readers and writers in our community for more than fifteen years.  Hub City Bookshop was funded by members of our community who believed in the value of an independent bookstore so much that they made gifts ranging from $5 to $50,000 to cover the store’s start-up costs.  It is a community endeavor through and through.  All the proceeds from our sales go into programs that fund creative writing education and our non-profit publisher, Hub City Press.  When I buy books at Hub City Bookshop, I take home a great product—good reading—and I invest in fostering the literary arts in my community.  Independent bookstores build community, promote tolerance of diverse ideas, and encourage people to engage with each other.  What could be more important?