Friendly Alien Books will open this spring at 111 Wyoming Avenue in downtown Scranton, Pa. The Times-Tribune reported that while growing up in Lackawanna County, owner Brigid Lawrence often went to the local bookstore, and when it eventually closed, she "found a spark and wanted to bring a bookstore back into her community."
 |
|
| Brigid Lawrence at a pre-opening open house at Friendly Alien Books. | |
Although the dream remained in the background as she built a career in print and television media, it held on. "Before bringing this dream to life, Lawrence started asking around for some advice as she also journaled through the whole process," the Times-Tribune wrote. Last summer, she decided to take the next step: "She reached out to the [University of Scranton Small Business Development Center] and began working with business consultant Zakiyyah Smith, who introduced her to the StartUP program--a resource designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs. That fall, she joined the program, finding it to be an invaluable experience."
"It's a perfect toolkit," Lawrence said. "It had everything I didn't even realize I needed until I saw it.... Starting a business can feel lonely, but hearing about all the other women who went through the process was also a huge help, seeing someone who was sitting there having the same thoughts 'am I on the right path,' and 'is this what I should be doing?' "
Regarding the bookshop's name, Lawrence wanted something that reflected her "extraterrestrial" personality, the Times-Tribune noted. "Messing around with some words, she came across the words 'friendly' and 'alien.' When she presented the name to some family and friends, they loved it and thought it was fitting for her as she even has a little alien tattoo."
She told WVIA that while the storefront isn't ready yet, she held an open house during First Friday this month and a "steady stream" of people came by to see what she has been working on. "It's been beyond magical to see how many people want to support this, want to help support me and just kind of want to celebrate this new business coming to downtown," she said.
"I feel so incredibly lucky in that regard, that so many people have just been like 'I love the idea, I want to help,' " she noted, adding that she is excited to join a "long line of small businesses in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The community is also so supportive. They all want to support local too. I just feel so lucky to be a part of that now from a different angle... to be on the other side of it, it's just like 'oh my God, this is so fun.' "