I love bookstores. LOVE THEM! It isn’t surprising for a bibliophile and writer, but for this Oʻahu resident—especially one that lives on the south shore—access to bookstores is problematic. With the closure of Borders in 2011, it left Oʻahu with a single, big-chain bookstore, Barnes & Noble located in Honolulu, and a smaller Japanese conglomerate called BookOff. So I decided to go on a trek…a journey… a quest (FYI, this must be said like Peregrin Took from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring) around Oʻahu to look for independent bookstores. There is something magical about walking into an independent bookstore done right. They are imagination bottled between four walls with the possibility of discovering buried treasure.
So before you go on the quest with me, a comment on island living for context. Though everything as the crow flies seems close and the mileage between cities on an island like Oʻahu sounds manageable, the reality of trekking those miles is a production. During peak traffic, for example, to get the 20 miles from my home to Honolulu would take a minimum of an hour, give or take an extra 30 minutes, which means that a quick trip to a bookstore isn’t happening. There aren’t any bookstores in my area of the island, which means traveling to a bookstore is a necessity—including the single Barnes & Noble.
But this intrepid explorer was committed, and so off I went . . .
The first store I visited was Da Shop: Books + Curiosities located in Honolulu. An independent bookstore operated by small, independent publisher, Bess Press Publishing, it caters to Bess Press titles—mostly local and Hawaiian—with some niche national publications thrown in. It is a small shop, with a very curated front face along with a back warehouse for clearance titles. I loved that they have a true adherence to Asian Pacific Islander voices with a smattering of mainstream voices, all thematically connected to truly diverse author options. I enjoyed walking in the small shop and seeing so many AAPI authors.
Idea Music and Books was the next location I visited. Also in Honolulu, Idea has been in business since 1976. The space is split into two sections: the front portion of the store caters to the new-and-used music with a plethora of vinyl in stock. Idea seemed like a dream for the music lover. It was organized and clearly marked. The back portion of the location is filled with books, mostly used titles with a smattering of new books. While they are shelved by categories, the organization is haphazard. If one is willing to dig for buried treasure, Idea had a treasure trove of older titles, and I found a stack of difficult-to-find titles on a particular subject I’m interested in researching.
Deep in the hallways of an older mall with limited foot traffic is a hidden treasure, Village Books & Music, a “friends of the library” bookstore that supports Hawaiʻi libraries. As bookstores go, this one was the most “mainstream” offering all kinds of titles and organized nicely by category and author. I could have looked over the shelves for hours. The quality of the books are exceptional and the prices (at $3-$4) economical. I found a few newer YA titles to add to my collection (Nic Stone’s Chaos Theory, for example) and some nostalgic adult titles (Lavyrle Spencer, who was a favorite of mine in high school) to add to my collections. When I took my books to the cashier, I noticed she was reading The Count of Monte Cristo and we had a fun chat about reading as I checked out.
Next, I went to Na Mea Hawaiʻi, a Hawaiian culture shop that carries a curation of Hawaiian artisanal merchandise from art, to clothing, to beauty goods, to food items, and finally books that cater to a Hawaiian perspective of place and people. I had a wonderful chat with a salesperson who helped me look over the book selection, and we found a few titles to add to my growing Hawaiian collection. A beautiful independently owned shop, this wasn’t specifically a bookstore, but it had a lovely book section.
Please note: these images were taken from two previous articles written about Bookends: Here & Here
Located the farthest on my quest was BookEnds in Kailua. Independently owned and operated since 1998, BookEnds was voted the Best Neighborhood Bookstore by Honolulu Magazine. It’s a tiny shop filled to the brim with a new-and-used collection, offering a diverse collection of titles. I found a lovely, first US edition, signed copy of Witi Ihimaera’s Whalerider here. Boy, did I feel lucky! (And for kicks, this was the first independent bookstore on the island that supported me as an indie author by stocking my books).
There were a few more places I discovered but haven’t had time to visit in person yet. Skull-Face Books is a new independent bookstore catering to new-and-used books and vinyl, Arts & Letters Nuʻuanu offers native books and art, Logos Books of Hawaiʻi, niched to Christian reading, and BĀS Bookshop is niched to art and design. Additionally, I found there are a plethora of shops that carry books, though not exclusively, and several comics and manga shops on the island. Of all the bookstores I visited, only Da Shop, Na Mea Hawaiʻi and BookEnds specialized in selling new books.
As an average human, who really loves convenience (and whatever taxes my time and wallet the least), I made some observations about the experience of shopping at local, independent bookstores.
First, as much as I loved walking into these bookstores and enjoying the unique vibe of each, they didn’t always carry what I wanted. This isn’t surprising when the bookstore offers niched merchandise or is more focused on the “used” rather than the new. And of the stores that did carry the “new” books, they didn’t always have a book either. Of course, it’s unrealistic to think that a small, independent bookstore can carry every title. While I could have used the trip as an opportunity to order that special title from the bookstore, the reality that I would have to make a “trek” out to the bookstore again, using time and resources to do it was off-putting.
While digging for buried treasure is fun, I don’t always have the time for it. Sometimes, I just want to walk into the bookstore, find a book I’m looking for, and walk out. Books are already chaotic, so when it’s difficult to find books, it can make the experience overwhelming.
Finally, there was very little diversity between traditionally published books over independent titles. Aside from the niche stores, the new-and-used stores adhered strongly to old mainstream offerings of bestsellers being resold. Besides Na Mea Hawaiʻi, which offered new independently published Hawaiian titles, I didn’t see any independent authors offered in the other shops.
Signing my books at Barnes & Noble, Ala Moana
Here’s an interesting fact for you: I didn't find any of my 11 titles on the shelves in any of my local, independent bookstores. As an independent author, I have contacted most of these bookstores to share that I am a local author, sent flyers with new releases, have offered to send the purchaser some books, and expressed interest in taking part in any author events. Two of these bookstores responded to my queries. One—Village Books—invited me for an author talk and the other—BookEnds—purchased my books for their bookshelves. Interestingly enough, it was my local Barnes & Noble bookstore that reached out to me interested in carrying my titles and invited me for a signing. Granted, this is just one author’s experience, so keep that in mind. And it is important to remember, bookstores are businesses trying to turn a profit, so taking risks on books with no guarantee to move is risky… but that’s an entirely different post.