Next spring, author Lauren Groff and her husband, Clay Kallman, plan to open The Lynx in downtown Gainesville, Fla. The 2,300-square-foot store will sell new books for all ages, with an emphasis on Florida's literary history and, especially, books currently banned in the state.
"We have such a rich and varied literary history that no one knows about," said Groff, and now that Florida's "authoritarian government has education in a choke hold," there is an acute need to promote and celebrate the work of LGBTQI authors as well as Black, brown, and indigenous authors. Through the bookstore, she and Kallman want to help those ideas "take flight" at a time when many in the state are trying actively to suppress them.
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| Clay Kallman and Lauren Groff | |
Groff noted that some of the Florida authors she plans to highlight, such as Zora Neale Hurston, also happen to be among the most banned and challenged writers in the state. Hurston's work will be found alongside that of other Florida authors such as Edwidge Danticat, Jeff VanderMeer, Karen Russell, Kelly Link, Laura van den Berg, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and many more. Groff also pointed to a "really strong community" of local authors, including David Leavitt and Amy Hempel, to name just two.
Elaborating on what she envisions for the bookstore, Groff said the models include other Southern indies like Square Books in Oxford, Miss., and Books & Books in South Florida, and when it comes to events and community outreach, she wants the Lynx to be "involved with everything."
Groff has already spoken with the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce about creating a One Gainesville, One Read program, which is something the city, home of the University of Florida, has never had before. She's excited about the possibility of bringing the community together around a single book and fostering a discussion of ideas that "may be uncomfortable" to some community members. Getting books "in the hands of people who need them the most" will also be a major part of the store's community mission.
Asked about her day-to-day role with the bookstore, Groff described her husband as "the businessman," while she intends her role to be a bit like Ann Patchett's at Parnassus Books, Nashville, Tenn. She added, laughing: "Everyone's vision is to be Ann Patchett." (Besides Patchett, other authors who own or co-own bookstores include Louise Erdrich, Jeff Kinney, Judy Blume, Emma Straub, Kelly Link, Alex George, Jenny Lawson, and George R.R. Martin, among others.)
Groff and Kallman are currently searching for a general manager as well as other operational roles for the bookstore. For the first year or so of the bookstore's life, Groff continued, she expects to do "a lot of the heavy lifting," but as the Lynx finds its footing and the team grows, she wants the store's employees to become the "majority voice."
To that end, she and Kallman will institute a profit-sharing model so that all of the employees will have a stake in the financial success of the business. They want to hire booksellers who are really able to "think of the store as their own," and in a time of "increasing corporatization" amid an "authoritarian environment," it was important to them for there to be "as many strong voices for the masses as possible."
The Lynx has been a long time coming for Groff and Kallman; they've been talking about opening a bookstore since moving to Gainesville roughly 18 years ago, and for about a dozen years they've been actively searching for a space. For Kallman, it is especially significant, as his family owned and operated the Florida Bookstore in Gainesville from the early 1930s until the 1990s. He has "such fond memories" of growing up around and working in the bookstore, Groff said.
One of the reasons the search took so long, she explained, is because "from the beginning we wanted to buy our own space." That "posed some big problems," as there simply weren't that many spaces in downtown Gainesville to buy. At the same time, Gainesville has changed dramatically over the years, with the town's "center of gravity" shifting.
They did not really consider renting until they found the perfect space with "absolutely perfect landlords." At 601 South Main St., the Lynx will be part of a development called South Main Station, a cluster of buildings that also includes a recording studio, a brewery, a concert venue, and restaurants. The landlord is also building an outdoor gathering space that will allow the Lynx to host large events, from big author talks to even weddings.
South Main Station is home to a Thursday farmers market and is very close to Depot Park, which opened about four years ago and was created out of a Superfund site. "The city put a lot of time, energy, money, and thought into developing that area," Groff remarked.
Though she and her husband found the 601 South Main St. space in September, they kept the news "pretty secret" until the lease was signed. The community's initial reaction has been fantastic, and Groff and Kallman have already gotten some "great g.m. candidates." In January they plan to launch an Indiegogo campaign to help them get the store across the finish line. It's all been "wild and exciting," said Groff. --Alex Mutter