Prologue on High Street
PROLOGUE
841 N High St. Swinging by Prologue in the Short North is a pleasure. The doors are open on a hot summer day, inviting book revelers into power browse mode. Dan Brewster, the owner, sits behind the counter, unpacking books. He opened the store less than a year ago after getting fed up with computer coding back in San Francisco. “I wanted to open a store here for people to come in and relax,” says Brewster. “I wasn’t deterred by what Amazon was doing. Yes, Amazon sells books, but their site has become so chaotic. Ads all over the place. My store, and independent stores in general, offer a calm space for people to explore titles and get lost in the shelves.” Brewster speaks to a certain camaraderie most indie stores in the Columbus area share. “I have had contact with most of the bookstore owners in Columbus,” Brewster says. “We support each other and want everyone to flourish. In fact, back in April we did a book hop (Independent Bookstore Day) where you could spend the day visiting many of the indie bookstores around town [and] win prizes and share a love for books along the way.” Store foot traffic is in a constant decline, and stores such as Barnes and Noble may continue to feel the pinch, potentially leaving a huge hole in the brick-and-mortar bookstore landscape. Yet indie stores are not celebrating the downfall of their one-time nemesis. “Everyone is cheering for Barnes and Noble to succeed,” Kass says. “We want more booksellers, more readers. There needs to be a Barnes and Noble to complement what we are doing.” •
76
(614) MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2019 614NOW.COM