New bookstore in West Des Moines looks to create a 'safe space where everybody feels seen'
Standing near the entrance of her new bookstore in West Des Moines, Linzi Murray can see her vision come to life.
Amid a sea of construction workers, power tools and machinery, the 27-year-old pointed out the pieces that define her space: The big peach wall that bears the store's name — Reading in Public Bookstore + Cafe — in white neon lights. The tall brown bookshelves with small nook benches that soon will be adorned with pink pillows. The center cabinetry with speckled countertops that will hold the pièce de rèsistance — a baby pink espresso machine.
There's also the mural above the front door that boldly displays the store's motto: "Read Books and Be Kind," and the customized wallpaper in the far back of the store featuring whimsical portraits of Murray and her staff. If you look closely, you'll find Murray, seated in a chair, with a book in one hand and a hot mug in the other.
"The more real it is, the more unreal it feels," Murray said, as she toured the store with the Des Moines Register last week ahead of the grand opening on Jan. 14.
To Murray, the details matter, and it's not just because she's a graphic designer by trade.
As one of the only Asian American bookstore owners in Iowa, Murray said her bookstore at 315 Fifth St. in historic Valley Junction was built with a single intention: "To create a safe space where everybody feels seen and understood and like they belong without caveats, without explanation."
Reading in Public is now among 17 bookstores in the Midwest owned by people of color, according to a membership list from the Midwest Booksellers Association. It lists more than 230 bookstores in nine states as members.
Growing up in Kansas City as an adoptee from China, Murray said she struggled with her cultural identity and hardly saw stories like hers represented in books or on TV. The media has changed since then, with more authors of color now telling their stories, and Murray is on a mission to make sure her bookstore showcases diverse writers, titles and topics. She also wants to have bilingual books, particularly for children and families.
"For me, curation is my No. 1 priority," she said. "It's (about) getting the books in front of the people that may never find them because you never know what book is going to meet the person at the right time and what impact it could have."
Reading in Public was born out of the COVID-19 pandemic and Instagram
A lifelong bibliophile, Murray said she first thought about opening a bookstore a few years ago while living in New York City with her husband, Ying Chyi Gooi. The couple, who were students when they fell in love at Drake University and later moved to the Big Apple in 2017, had an apartment in Carroll Gardens, a neighborhood in Brooklyn.
In between walks to and from work or during her spare time, Murray wandered into bookstores around the city to browse new titles and covers. She frequented one particular store in Brooklyn, Books Are Magic, where the owners eventually knew her name.
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It wasn't until the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the city shut down that Murray realized the role bookstores played in her life.
"Once bookstores were closed off to me, it felt like a part of my spirit was blocked off from me — inaccessible —and there's nothing I can do about it. It really, really hit me and affected my mental health. I've always loved bookstores, and it's always been a refuge for me, but I couldn't have anticipated how that felt," she said.
So, she hopped online to find a way to connect with other book lovers near and far. On Instagram, under the handle @abookishendeavor, she and Gooi traveled around the city to post images of themselves with books in hand. Gooi started a separate account as @thebookishhusband to document his nonfiction treasures. For months on social media, the two explored and expanded their reading interests while amassing a number of followers who were just as excited as they were.
Murray said the pandemic "was such a stressful time," and her account was "this one light" shining in a world of darkness.
At the same time, Murray said she was hitting a roadblock in her career. She knew she loved being a freelance graphic designer but felt like something else was calling.
Then, it hit her: "Could it be possible? Would I even be capable of opening a bookstore?"
The short answer was "yes," Gooi said.
Gooi, 28, remembered those initial conversations with his wife and saying: "OK, hold that thought." A software engineer, Gooi is meticulous and methodical. He likes to analyze his steps before taking a leap.
"I didn't say anything about, 'Oh yeah. We have to do it right now,'" he said, adding he kept the discussions open-ended with "we'll think about it."
But the thing about Murray is you can't hold her back. "When she gets something stuck in her mind, she doesn't back out. She can't be swayed, even if you tried," said Murray's mother, Gail Murray, laughing.
Murray finds similarities between Brooklyn and Valley Junction
Linzi Murray said she spent about a week mulling over the idea, looking into becoming a business owner and talking with her husband and her mother. She saw the cards stacked against her — "I have no idea how to run a business. I've never taken a business class. I don't know how to do anything," she said.
But there was something she did know — and that was books.
Her Instagram account already laid the foundation for the feel of the store, the authors she wanted to carry and the customers she sought to bring in.
From there, Murray began mapping out the steps to make her dream come true and thought to open the bookstore in Des Moines. Murray and Gooi already had planned to return to Iowa someday to raise a family.
The couple broke their two-year lease in New York and moved back to the Hawkeye State in November 2021.
Murray told the Register she's spent months preparing for the opening of her store. She leaned on the Iowa Center for Economic Success to strengthen her business plan and connected with the Des Moines-based architecture and design firm Knop Architects, whose clients include St. Kilda Collective, a farm-to-table restaurant located just steps away from Murray's bookstore.
Murray also commissioned New York artist Steffi Lynn for the colorful mural sprawled above the entrance doorway and tapped Tennessee-based illustrator Shelley Couvillion for the unique rosy wallpaper.
"I could be spending my budget on other things, but I love illustrators and celebrating their talent," said Murray, her hand lightly brushing over the wallpaper. She added she wants people, artists included, to feel empowered once they step into her store.
With Reading in Public Bookstore + Cafe opening, Murray reflected on her recent career pivot and pinpointed where it fits in the grand scheme of things. Though it wasn't her dream to open up a bookstore, she saw it as the first of many steps to provide a place for people from all walks of life.
When asked why she wanted to open in Valley Junction, Murray smiled. It's the best place to find a piece of Brooklyn in Iowa, she said.
"I wanted to be in a community where other businesses care about one another," Murray said.
Reading in Public Bookstore + Cafe is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. For more information, visit readinginpublic.com.
F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @writefelissa.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: West Des Moines bookstore Reading in Public opens in Valley Junction
