Rosalee Book Boutique, a general-interest bookstore in Beaver Dam, Wis., will make its debut this Saturday, WiscNews reported.
Located at 234 S. Spring St., the bookstore will carry around 1,000 titles at opening, with owner Kayla Drake planning to expand the inventory as the store finds its footing. And while the store will carry mostly new titles, a selection of used titles will be available.
Drake, who grew up in nearby Horicon, Wis., hopes for the store to become a community gathering place and would like to host book clubs, storytime sessions and events with reading and literacy specialists.
"I want it to be a place to share this love of reading," Drake told WiscNews. "I want it to grow literacy in our community."
Her store is the first bricks-and-mortar bookstore to open in Beaver Dam since 2014, when Book World closed after nearly 30 years in operation. As a child, Drake recalled, she would beg her mother to drive to Beaver Dam so they could go to Book World. She described herself as an avid reader and said opening a bookstore was a lifelong dream.
That dream began to move toward reality earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic. Drake, who worked as a nurse, read as a way to de-stress from her job and started giving book recommendations to co-workers. She loved the feeling of sharing books with others, and in September 2022 decided to take the plunge. She'd been shopping for books at Walmart when a person next to her said, "Wouldn't it be great if Beaver Dam had a bookstore?”
Drake looks to host a grand opening celebration sometime in April.