This past weekend, Ogden received its very own Indie bookstore. Booked on 25th had its grand opening on July 9 alongside the Farmer’s Market.
The store will be showcasing both new and used books. The owner, Marcy Rizzi, got the idea to first open an Indie bookstore when she had run out of funding before she could finish her degree in English. With plans on her degree coming to an end, she got stuck. While talking, her partner Alicia Rizzi, asked her, “Why don’t you open a bookstore?”
For Marcy, the idea of her own bookstore was a no brainer.
“I have lived my whole entire life in bookstores,” Marcy Rizzi said. “I center my vacations around Indie bookstores. There’s a huge literary community out there that no one is really tapping into. Let’s be honest, bookstores are bookstores, but we can also create a community space to make people feel safe and show their ideas and just allow them to be themselves. It’s a place for people to just be.”
That is exactly the kind of space she has created. It has a very retro-vintage decor. Perfect for an Indie bookstore. The walls are lined with shelves of books, mugs with names of some banned books, backpacks and even some candles of authors like Edgar Allen Poe and Virginia Woolf can be seen amongst the walls of paper.
But the store was not just intended for books. She will be using the space as a place for book clubs to meet and even host local authors for book signings. “It’s not just about a new and used bookstore. It’s about a collective community gathering spot.”
Historic 25th Street is definitely a place to visit. When explaining the benefits of opening on such a historic street, Marcie said that a bookstore probably would not survive if it wasn’t on 25th. It is a tourist spot that brings different kinds of people and shoppers toward it, no matter what time of year.
“You’ve got the people that know what book they want. They come in, get their book and go home. But I love the accidental book shopper, walking down the street and looking in the window thinking, ‘Oh look, a bookstore! This is awesome!’ Where else are you going to get that kind of excitement? This place also offers a lot history, and being able to offer some of that history on the bookshelf is fantastic.”
She plans on placing more seating arrangements and having it not only be a place to shop but also a place people can come in and just hang out for a while or even be a meeting spot.
“I want people to know that this is a place where all ideas are accepted,” Rizzi said. She and the books will welcome you with open arms.
