Old Town Books — Local services in Alexandria

I live in Fairfax now, after living in Alexandria two years. Last night was the first time I'd ever been to this bookstore. I'd seen it a million times and had been waiting for the right moment to go into what looked like a cozy, warm experience waiting for me. Me and three friends, two visiting from out of town, were excited to find no line to get in.

Right when we started browsing, one of my friends discussed moving up our dinner reservation because if we kept the original reservation, we would have too much time to kill. A woman named Abby was the only employee in the store and heard our conversation.

We had literally just walked in, I was still looking at the first display inside the door. We had been in there no more than two minutes, but she promptly told us in a stern tone that if we were only in there to kill time, she'd prefer we leave so other customers who were actually intending to buy something could come in (because the place is so small and because of COVID only four customers are allowed inside at a time).

None of us reacted and we kept right on browsing, but it was the rudest thing that has happened to me in a long time. Me and my friends are clearly young and brown; I have a hard time imagining she would have spoken to us that way if we were older white people. Three of the four of us made multiple purchases and that is the last time I will ever give them...

I love bookstores so when I learned Old Town was getting a new one I came when I got the chance. And I've been returning frequently whenever I can since.

In the two years at least I've been coming, the store always has something for me. I leave either with a new book to read (or two) or ideas for things I want to read later. I sometimes like to go in just to see what's new since they carry the latest releases. And since expanding over the spring, adult and children's materials have more space for each other.

I know they have events but haven't been able to go since I can usually only visit on weekends. But I follow them on Facebook since they post regularly. Today I bought a new sweater they just released that's book themed but also Old-Town inspired that I saw from their FB page. It's cute and I love it. If you can't tell it's often hard for me to leave without wanting to buy everything, but they do have a rewards program so you can get points off purchases. Their staff are also super friendly and helpful if you ever need help or recommendations.

Check this place out if you're in the area. It's not far from King Street and always has something...

Old Town Books is my neighborhood independent book store and I love to support them. They have a spectacular layout, with fun reviews or notes on the books by the staff. If you need a recommendation, the staff are excellent at helping you find a book in your preferred genre. The selection of kids' board books is outstanding--this has become my go-to for not the run-of-the-mill book titles for board books for babies and toddlers. They have a great kids' reading program where you can earn tokens for local Andy's Pizza slices by reading this summer. The programming can't be missed, with local authors and book events, several book clubs that meet on the premises and pop-up events for young adults, teens and children's books. I heard they are expanding to a children's book store! The store has great gifts for book lovers. I've bought stickers, totes and tees. If they are out of a book, they order it quickly and have a loyalty rewards. My only request would be that they were open a bit later during the week and weekend. Sometimes we forget they are closed when we want to support a small business! Check out this...