The Book Bungalow comes to Green Gate Village in St. George
This fall, southern Utah is getting a new bookstore in downtown St. George, and, with it, a lot more opportunities for daytime and evening activities. The Book Bungalow, the newest shop in Green Gate Village, will open its doors to the public Sept. 24 with a grand opening coming later in mid-October, according to owner and manager Tanya Parker Mills. The Book Bungalow is a full-service, local, independent bookstore serving southern Utah.
At the corner of Tabernacle Street and 100 W, the store will occupy the front portion of the old Judd Bungalow, a historic home built in 1917, Mills said.
“We’re keeping it pretty much the way it’s always been, other than removing a few doors to provide easier access for customers,” she said. “It’s a lovely building constructed in that early Frank Lloyd Wright prairie school style, with gorgeous wooden built-in cabinets and shelves.”
“It’s the perfect place for an intimate bookstore,” she added, “and only a short walk away from the library, the children’s museum, and the Tabernacle. It will be right in the middle of Friday Fest, the Arts Festival, and close to anything major happening downtown.”
Open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the store will shelve all kinds of fiction, poetry, biography, history, nonfiction, cooking, and arts and crafts, Mills said. There will also be a special section of books on “influential women” as well as another featuring international fiction and nonfiction.
“Along with gifts, toys, games, cards, and other sidelines, we’ll be offering some locally made crafts such as southwestern and literary styled artisan soaps and paintings created by local artists,” Mills said.
One of the draws, according to Mills, will be the children’s room full of books, toys, puzzles, games, and puppets for every age up through middle grade.
“The murals painted in there by Susan Grove are amazing,” she said. “Everything from Peter Pan to Harry Potter. She’s the same artist who painted the murals in the children’s museum, and she definitely doesn’t disappoint. Kids and their moms and dads are going to love story time on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m., whether we’re inside or outside.”
Beyond the books and gifts, The Book Bungalow will offer a haven from screen time and a much needed respite, Mills said, adding that she wants it to be a gathering place for book lovers from all over southern Utah to mingle and learn.
An award-winning author, herself, Mills said she aimed to create a bookstore environment that would attract both writers and readers. Besides author appearances and signings, the store will have a “writer’s cabinet” full of books about writing and famous authors as well as writers’ tools.
“We’re also going to offer a bi-monthly, two-hour writer’s workshop on Saturdays, led by visiting authors, for aspiring writers of all ages and levels,” Mills said.
“The calendar is already filling up with game nights, TED Talks, book clubs, music nights, poetry nights, open mic nights, author appearances, and even school visits,” Mills said. “This is what will really enrich the community. It gives us a reason to pull away from our phones, our computers, and our TVs and enjoy some face-to-face time again. To be a community, we need to get to know each other, and books offer the perfect vehicle.”
“St. George is known for its artistic scene, but we are lacking when it comes to the literary arts, and I want to help change that,” Mills said.
“There’s something wrong when you have a metro area that is the fastest growing in the nation, a prime tourist destination, and yet you don’t have a local independent bookstore that offers events,” she said. “Yes, there are a handful of used bookstores in southern Utah, but beyond that, there’s nothing like The King’s English up north. I want to put southern Utah on the nation’s literary map.”
Her ultimate goal, she pointed out, is written on the bookstore’s sign: to become “the literary soul of our community.”
“Our local library system is our literary heart, in my opinion,” Mills said. “It’s accessible to everyone and keeps us alive in the world of literature. But a library isn’t designed as a place for conversation, and you need to be able to exchange ideas in order to grow and learn and understand each other. That’s where The Book Bungalow comes in. If we do it right, it can become our community’s literary soul.”
Book lovers can already shop online at thebookbungalow.com.
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