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| Keely Malone shows off the keys outside Ink Drinkers' future home. | |
Ink Drinkers Anonymous, which began as an online bookseller last June, is expanding into a physical location in the Historic Rose Court building at 125 East Charles St. in downtown Muncie, Ind., with a goal "to bring something new and different to the community," Ball State Daily reported. The grand opening is scheduled for March 17.
"Owning a bookstore in general started out as a dream of mine since I was five years old," said owner Keely Malone. "I've been obsessed with books, libraries and bookstores basically my whole life.... I kind of evaluated what the stores have here in Muncie and was like, 'What can I bring that we don't necessarily have in our bookstores here?' And that was diversity. Authors of different races, backgrounds, ethnicities, nationalities. So that became the focus with the BIPOC, the self-published authors and the local Hoosier authors."
Malone, who has been remodeling the space, described community support as overwhelming: "So far, they have been very open and very helpful in not only supporting me but getting the word out about the bookstore. [They've also been] getting involved and helping get everything together. I have a really good outlook on what the future has with working with the community."
Heather Perry of the H Ahindman & Co-Salon, which is also located in the complex, said: "I'm really excited to have a bookstore downtown. It seems like a really long time since we've had an independent bookstore. I love books. I imagine I'll be spending a lot of time in the bookstore."