Monkey Wrench Books will host its grand opening celebration on Saturday, August 17, at 214 High St. in Morgantown, W.Va. The Daily Athenaeum reported that the store was originally set to launch last fall, but its opening was pushed back a year due to obstacles such as permitting and funding.
"Largely it was my naivety," said owner Lindsey Jacobs. "This is the first business I've built from the ground up, and so I was very naive about the amount of time that it would take to get in the space and turn it around. We also went a different route and did a lot more demolition and re-imagining of the physical space for the store. So obviously, that took more time."
She added that she is grateful for the additional time to develop her business: "I want to do it right, and I'm trying to set myself up for success. In retrospect, I'm really glad that it has taken more than a year, because it's allowed me to do things better. It will be a better space because of that."
In addition to new and used books, Monkey Wrench will feature coffee, tea, smoothies, baked goods from local businesses, and gifts. Jacobs said that she hopes the business will also foster community.
"I wanted to create a community space around books, which I love. But also a place where we can organize and challenge each other, and perform mutual aid," she noted. "Every community needs an independent bookstore. I'm super excited to get the bookstore part open, but I'm even more excited about the opportunity to build community using the bookstore."
The bookstore's name was inspired in part by Edward Abbey's 1975 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang. "The parts about fighting back, and throwing a wrench in the gears of the powers that be. I think the idea of monkey wrenching, which is to say, making things harder for the people that would hurt us or oppress us is a concept that's really important to me," Jacobs observed.
She also attributes the name to her love of collecting quilts, specifically her favorite quilt block, which is referred to as a monkey wrench block: "Monkey wrenching to me is about challenging the status quo and standing up for our neighbors. Fighting as often as we need to fight, and organizing. I wanted to make sure that the name of the bookstore reflected those things which I value."