SubText: A Bookstore, St. Paul, Minn., is now open in the Blair Arcade building, a space previously occupied by Garrison Keillor's Common Good Books, which relocated to the Macalester College campus earlier this year. The shop is owned by Sue Zumberge, former manager of Common Good Books. 
Currently in the midst of a soft opening, the redesign is still a work in progress, but The Line reported the space "has already taken on a different atmosphere from the former Keillor bookstore, with plenty of soft seating and a red-tufted bar that dates back to the 1940s.... The built-in bookshelves, which will be a design centerpiece, are getting a facelift, too."
Building owner June Berkowitz, who also owns Nina's Coffee Café--just above the basement-level bookshop--said she is a partner in the venture because "I decided it was important to do what I could do." She also called the new space "very cozy. It's supposed to be an extension of Nina's as a community gathering place."
Zumberge shares that vision of community, noting that the goal is to "fill it up with people. It's not just [for] browsing for books, but people are able to hang out."