This weekend Mitzi's Main Street Books celebrates its grand opening in Rapid City, S.D. The store is inspirational in several ways: it's in the site of a former adult video shop in the heart of historic downtown, an area being transformed from one of urban blight; it fills in the a gap left by the closing of Borders; and it fulfills the dream of the late Mitzi Hillenbrand Lally, who bought the building, wanting to create a community bookstore. (Lally died in August at the age of 82.)
Lally's brother, Ray Hillenbrand, who owns Prairie Edge Trading Co. & Galleries, worked with the Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates to manage the store opening, design the store, select inventory, train staff, handle newsletter marketing and merchandising for the soft opening.
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| Mitzi's staff members (from l.): Brenda Beal, Mary Ackland, Kristy Creager and Tarah Jennings. |
Brenda Beal, retail manager for Prairie Edge, is overseeing operations at Mitzi's Main Street Books and Tarah Jennings, a former general manager at Borders, is managing day-to-day operations.
Hillenbrand commented, "Mitzi would have really flipped over the look and feel of the bookstore," adding that he hopes customers who didn't know her will "feel her essence."
Mitzi’s Main Street Books is located at 510 Main Street, Rapid City, S.D. 57701; 605-721-2665. The store's website, MitzisBooks.com, is under development.