The Dog-Eared Page, a new and used bookshop, will open in Danville, Va.'s River District later this year, "thanks to grant assistance from the River District Association's Dream Launch program," the Chatham Star-Tribune reported.
Owner Catherine Carter completed the Dream Launch business bootcamp and pitch competition, and received $25,000 to reach her goal of opening a bookstore downtown. Although the business does not yet have a location yet, she is anticipating a fall opening date.
The idea evolved from a book club Carter was in with her coworkers at Riverside Health and Rehab. The members thought it would be nice to have a place for their club to meet, as well as a bookstore.
"I started thinking that it would be cool if we even had a bookstore in town," Carter said. "My parents are big readers, and they took me to bookstores growing up. I want that experience for my own son as well as my friends who love to read. You can't always drive 45 minutes to Greensboro to go to a bookshop. It would be nice if we had it within our own community."
She presented the idea to Kelvin Perry, project manager at Danville's Office of Economic Development, and he referred her to the Dream Launch program.
Carter said she is looking to build her business "with purpose" to bring the community together. "I hope to be able to be a place for parents to bring their kids to instill that love of reading and conversation and literacy at a young age. I'm hoping to encourage people to seek the advantages that come from a good book.... People are really excited about it, and it makes me even more excited. I'm thankful for the opportunity to be able to do this. The one thing the pandemic has taught me is that life is short and that I don't want to get to the end of things and wish I had done things differently."