High wanted her shop to feel as curated and intimate as that imagined shelf. (The author died in 2006, but her works have recently had a resurgence culminating in several screen adaptations, including Hulu’s “Kindred” late last year). High settled on the store name because she always wondered what would be on Butler’s bookshelf at home if she could have ever peeked in. But this will be a first for the Pasadena area. Since 2019, at least two others have opened - the Salt Eaters in Inglewood and Reparations Club in Crenshaw. in L.A.įrom her wildly successful podcast, Zibby Owens has built a media empire, complete with her own publishing company and, starting Feb. High, who frequented Eso Won, wondered what the closure might mean for a new bookstore with a similar focus.īooks A New York bookfluencer launches her first bricks-and-mortar shop. And last summer, Eso Won Books, a prominent Black-owned bookstore in South Los Angeles, announced it would close its store. The GoFundMe she launched was trudging along with the help of friends and family. High admits she had her moments of doubt. They asked whether it was a good idea to make a radical life change involving great financial risk. When her beloved grandmother died suddenly last year, High decided it was time to take the leap. An ardent reader who had dreamed for years of starting her own bookstore, she used her work trips to chat up bookshop owners about how they went about starting their businesses. For 15 years she had worked in the marketing department for Trader Joe’s, visiting cities across the country where the chain wanted to expand. High, 48, grew up in Altadena and spent most of her life in the area. Now, all High needed was to spread the word - and get some funding. Butler, the store’s namesake, lived and found inspiration for her novels. Octavia’s Bookshelf would feature books by Black, Latino, Indigenous writers and other authors of color in the same neighborhood where Octavia E. This is where she began in earnest to plot out her independent bookstore. 22, after weeks of trying to find the right space for her dream, Nikki High signed a lease for a 621-square-foot space on Pasadena’s North Hill Avenue.
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