April 25 is a big day for Tikesha Williams. It marks the anniversary of when she opened her bookstore Paperbacks Ink in Newport News, it’s Independent Bookstore Day, and it’s American jazz great Ella Fitzgerald’s birthday.
And Williams plans to celebrate all of those things — and the start of the Hampton Roads Indie Bookstore Crawl.
“We're having a really big party all day long,” she said.
It’s the third year of the crawl, which invites readers to visit any of the 20 participating bookstores around the region participating to pick up a passport for the week-long event and gather stamps.
Visit at least 12 of those bookstores before May 3 for a chance to win “book-ish” prizes, said Erin Dougherty, the owner of the bookstore Eleanor’s Norfolk and founder of the event.
“When you walk in to see any of us, you'll get a little stamp or sticker on whatever store you're in,” she said. “When you're done, turn it (the passport) into any participating bookstore.”
No purchase is necessary, she said.
Dougherty took inspiration from events elsewhere to launch the region’s first indie bookstore crawl in 2024, and she said it’s been a hit. She estimated 400 people participated last year.
“Most people are super surprised at how many bookstores exist in Hampton Roads, even in their own cities,” Dougherty said.
The bookstores themselves run the gamut.
Eleanor’s Norfolk focuses on political education, social justice and advocacy. Paperbacks Ink in Newport News has a cafe and wellness center. It sells all genres, new and used, for $11.99 or less. Book Exchange has been buying and selling used books, music and movies in the region since 2004.
Wands Books in Norfolk describes itself as a “cozy-moody-maximalist-bohemian-bookshop” on its website.
SeeWhich Books in Hampton encourages readers to pick up works of fiction by underrepresented authors. Local Heroes in Norfolk is where readers can get their comic book fix. Novel Grounds in Chesapeake and Flourish in Virginia Beach are romance bookstores – a genre known as the backbone of the publishing industry.
“It's a really cool tapestry,” Dougherty said. “Everybody has their own vibe and own moment.”
But local bookstores also share a goal of building community around reading through book clubs, art workshops and events like the upcoming crawl.
“It's just like a fun event for everybody to get together, talk about books, talk about their favorite authors,” said Cassie Gardner, general manager of Book Exchange. “Community is what people are really yearning for right now.”
And the crawl is good for the bookstores, too.
“It has brought us a lot of new customers,” Williams said. “People that normally don't come on this side of the tunnel, come on this side of the tunnel.”
She said she hopes to see both familiar and new faces this year.
