Congratulations to Stone Soup Books, Waynesboro, Va., which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
"Having people come and say, 'I'm going to choose to put my dollars into my community, into my local bookstores and make sure that they’re here.' That makes a difference," store co-owner Mary Katherine Froehlich told WHSV.
Co-owner Janie Rambo said, "I think being a bookstore in a wonderful community like Waynesboro, that's what it's all about. We are supposed to open our doors for our community."
Since the store first opened in 2006, Stone Soup Books has gone through for major "chapters," Rambo explained. "The first one was a cafe bookstore, or bookstore cafe, I guess we should say. The second was more of an online-only type of sales. The third, we were in a different location, just a couple of blocks from here, and then this is our fourth."
Froehlich recalled that when Stone Soup's current location became available, "it was amazing to come back to the center and the heart of this community, and reopen at a time when I feel like we needed to say, 'Hey, this is important.' This is what connects us. Stories and having opportunity and being open to new ideas and discussing it and coming together."
Stone Soup Books sells titles for all ages, with specialties including farming, edible landscaping, nature writing, and sustainable living. There are new and used books as well as an antiquarian selection. Stone Soup hosts frequent events in-store and at locations in the Waynesboro area.