The Dancing Elephant, which sells new and used books, opened recently in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., the Palm Beach Post reported. The 1,500-square-foot space at 801 Lake Ave. was previously inhabited by the Book Cellar, which closed in March 2020.
"People are thrilled. Some days it's completely packed in here," said owner Shane Logan, adding that the store generated $25,000 in sales in less than a month from books and other merchandise like crystals, tarot cards and candles. "We've completely blown past what we thought we'd be doing. People come in here and say, 'Oh my God, I hope you'll make it.' I tell them, 'We'll be fine.' " Logan's partners in the business are girlfriend Ava Zywczyk and brother Conor.
The birth of the Dancing Elephant also resulted from the closing of Rainbow Bridge, a New Age bookstore that operated for decades in nearby West Palm Beach. The Post noted that Logan "was a longtime customer of Rainbow Bridge and became close to its owner, Tamas Burger. When the Palm Coast Plaza, the bookstore's home for a quarter-century, was sold this year, forcing Burger to move, he approached Logan."
"I thought it had a lot of opportunity, but maybe in a better location with new energy brought into it," said Logan, who purchased the other store's inventory, including thousands of books, many of them leaning toward the subjects of mysticism, the occult and spirituality. Although these account for much of the Dancing Elephant's stock, there are smaller sections on a variety of topics, and more than 90% of the books are new.
He added that his fascination with books and reading began as a child: "We were the family that, after dinner, it wasn't the park or the pool or watching TV. It was going to the bookstore. Reading was mandatory. Reading wasn't an option. Reading was a passion. Everybody read."