Old Town Books, Alexandria, Va., will expand this fall with the addition of Old Town Books Junior. Northern Virginia magazine reported that the children's bookstore at 128 S. Royal St. will be adding to the existing store and is expected to open the larger space in September.
"We're going to have SO MANY BOOKS!," owner Ally Kirkpatrick posted on Instagram. "Young teen, middle grade, early reader, graphic novels, manga, picture books, board books--we will have it ALL!" She also shared video of "demo time in the new Old Town Books Junior space! We get our bookshelves next week--ahhh it's really happening!"
Earlier in the spring, Kirkpatrick had written on the bookshop's blog: "Imagine a warm splash of sunlight on old oak floors, a riot of colorful picture book covers, and a passel of babies crawling around at Saturday morning storytime--I personally can't think of a happier space than our children's nook at Old Town Books....
"It's an understatement to call it a 'new section,' though, when in reality we're building out an entire kids bookstore. The new space will expand our shop into the other half of our beautiful historic 1840s brick building.... Our expansion comes with lots of fun surprises, including more than tripling the inventory of books in stock for young teens, middle graders, and early readers. We're also growing our selection of kids nonfiction titles, activity books, picture books, and baby books." She has also shared a sneak peek behind the scenes of what goes into designing a bookstore.