Pete and Freddy’s Pages Aplenty opens new location

Pete and Freddy’s Pages Aplenty has officially moved. A ribbon cutting, hosted by the Mentone Chamber of Commerce, was held Saturday morning, April 15, the first day of business at the new location.

The bookstore didn’t move far, just from 109 E. Main St., Mentone, to 107 E. Main St.

Madelyne Anweiler, also known as “Pete,” moved the store after her sister, Elyza, retired at the end of 2022.

The new store, operated solely by Anweiler, now has 900 square feet of space to display gently used and new books. Three rooms are filled with selections for all ages and genres. There’s adult, teen and children fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, horror, westerns, Christian living, large print, graphic novels, biographies, history, reference books and a small selection of Indiana history.

Fulton Chamber of Commerce receives Partnership Matters Award

The North Central Indiana Area Health Education Center recognized the Fulton County Chamber of Commerce with the NCI-AHEC 2023 Partnership Matters Award at the Indiana AHEC Network 2023 Conference in Indianapolis. NCI-AHEC has been based at 822 Main St. in Rochester with other non-profit organizations, including the Chamber, since its inception in 2010.

“Every year we rely on our partners to be successful in our mission,” says Janiece Stover, NCI-AHEC executive director. “This year, when we think about what provided us the opportunity to create and achieve successful programs, it had little to do with the programs themselves and everything to do with the support that we were receiving that encouraged us to keep going.” Chamber staff have provided encouragement and support as well as connections and resources to aide in the successful execution of projects and events.

“We are honored to receive recognition for our efforts,” acknowledged Chamber Executive Director Jillian Smith. “This was certainly unexpected. Our goal every day is to support area partners and ensure organizations have the tools they need to succeed. We are fortunate that NCI-AHEC has found its home in Fulton County and that they continue to focus on the future workforce of health care in rural communities.”

Looking for a special book? There are “a little over 50,000 books” that can be found in three rooms of the new store and every book is cataloged. “I keep a good memory of what I have,” Anweiler added. While she orders gently used and new books, she also accepts donations from those wanting to downsize their personal library.

Pete and Freddy’s Pages Aplenty offers an opportunity where customers can sign up and order audio books through the local store or buy new books from bookshop.org. If you sign up through either of these options you help shop local. Pete and Freddy’s Pages gets a percentage of sales made through either site. Information on how to help support Pete and Freddy’s is available at the store. “It’s a way to help small businesses,” Anweiler stated. But you won’t find just books at the store.

You can find jewelry and notebooks created by local artists and a gallery featuring artwork by local artist for sales. There are also specialty tote bags to load up with your reading delights. But that is not all.

You can find cards, puzzles, toys, stickers, pens, candles and special Mentone magnets, pins, earrings and more.

Anweiler has made the store unique. Decorated in bright colors with a chandelier, the exterior was painted to look like a bookstore you may find in London. Painted a bright blue with some gold accents, the store stands out on Main Street.

Just to the left of the entry, painted on the stone front is a fitting quotable quote from Shel Silverstein. “If you are a dreamer come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hopeer, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer ... If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!”

Look for more quotes to possibly appear on the walls around the store in the future.

You might also want to take a peek at the restroom. Not only is it uniquely decorated, but you’ll find pennies sealed onto the floor. And guess what, if you can guess the number of pennies, you could win store credit.

Another uniqueness is the store’s name. It’s not operated or owned by men. Anweiler stated the store’s name is actually the nicknames for herself and her sister. “We love nicknames. It keeps people guessing,” she stated.

While she operates the store herself, she gets a lot of help from “amazing strong women,” who are friends and book club members.

That’s right. Pete and Freddy’s Pages Aplenty has a weekly book club that meets at 7 p.m. the last Tuesday of the month. Anweiler will choose four titles and post them on the store’s social media sites — Facebook, Instagram, TicTock — for club members to choose. Once the title has been chosen, the books are made available for further discussion.

She has a tagline she likes to use for the store: “Woman owned. Love powered. Community driven. Book inspired.”

Pete and Freddy’s Pages is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; 1-6 p.m. Wednesday; and 10 a.m. To 4 p.m. Saturday. Cash, checks and credit cards are accepted.