Bookstores We Love: The Book Cellar
By Betsy Mikel in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 19, 2010 5:20PM
When Suzy Takacs opened The Book Cellar five and a half years ago, she knew she needed to do something different. "Everyone was doing books and coffee," she said. "Why not do books and wine?" And so at The Book Cellar, you can grab a book, perhaps one suggested by one of the many staff pick notes stuck to the shelves, and then enjoy it with a glass of wine in the bookstore's café. Books and wine are such a perfect combination that you'd never guess this is Takacs' first business venture. The former nurse practitioner got the idea to open a bookstore around the same time the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce got the idea of finding someone to open a bookstore. So Takacs found a space, read a lot of books about how to do it, and started attending trade shows. The Book Cellar has slowly, but steadily been growing since. Takacs knows it takes more than the surrounding community to keep the doors of her store open. The Book Cellar brings in people from across the city with its wide range of events, from author signings, to readings, to comedy performance, to book clubs. Takacs and her staff work hard to keep the store relevant in the ever-changing world of publishing. Soon, they'll be launching an e-commerce addition to their website to sell e-books.
The Book Cellar is at 4736 N Lincoln