A new book store, The Book Club Salida, has opened in Salida! It offers readers a welcoming space filled with books, community events and others opportunities to connect with fellow readers. The shop officially opened a permanent location in downtown Salida on March 11th, after running from booths and tables at farmers markets and different author events. You can find The Book Club Salida at 129 W Sackett Ave., Unit A.

Samantha Bahn and Deb Bass O’Brien, the owners of The Book Club Salida, have been public school educators in Salida for over 15 years. Currently, they both teach middle school at The Crest Academy. O’Brien states, “We didn’t really think we had the capacity to open a store since we both were teaching full time, but we knew this was an opportunity to open a physical brick-and-mortar store.”

Co-owner O’Brien started teaching English at The Crest Academy a little over 11 years ago. “I have always had a love for books,’’ O’Brien says. The bookstore grew out of volunteer work with Longfellow Parents Association, where O’Brien and her business partner, Bahn, helped organize the school book fairs. 

Over the past several years the owners have been growing their business through farmers markets, organized authors events and continuing to help with local book fairs. Opening a permanent location was the next step for them. The shop carries a wide variety of books for readers of all ages. Shelves are filled with local authors’ books. Many books are about Salida as well as the surrounding area and the natural world. Readers will also find bestsellers, young adult novels and many children’s books. O’Brien explains that young adult and kids books are an important focus for the store. 

Although opening the store has been exciting, balancing the business with a full time teaching job has been challenging. The owners said figuring out store hours while also making time for the family has been one of the hardest parts of the process. 

Despite the challenges, there have been many rewarding moments during the opening of the store. Owner O’Brien says, “I always just love when people come in and [you] connect with them, whether they’re locals or from out of town and they want to know more about Salida and how it’s a cool place to learn about.”

The Book Club Salida has also been focused on community events like books clubs. O’Brien says, “connecting people with authors and authors connecting with their readers has been really fun.” The owners are especially dedicated to creating programs for younger readers and teenagers. 

In July, the store plans to host a youth reading and writing camp designed to help kids feel motivated and keep reading over the summer months. The owners hope to create opportunities for high school students and young adults to get them to stay involved in reading. Teenager’s busy schedules can make finding time to read difficult. O’Brien states, “The amount of time that a highschooler has to read diminishes so much and we want to be able to keep that momentum going.”

The bookstore recently hosted its first reading retreat near Santa Fe, where participants spent the weekend reading, practicing yoga and visiting hot springs. The owners hope to organize more retreats in the future to give readers dedicated time to relax and enjoy books.

For the owners, however, the bookstore is about more than just selling books. After years of transporting boxes of books to markets and events, they said having everything in one place finally feels rewarding. The Book Club Salida will hopefully have their kids’ area up soon. And they are looking forward to creating a fun, welcoming environment to connect people through reading. They have enjoyed helping and serving the community and look forward to continuing that.