The couple is planning to reopen the bookstore with a soft opening on Oct. 1 at 1400 E. Third St.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The new 5,500-square-foot space features a first floor, second floor and basement.
To start off, the bookstore will take up the 2,000-square-foot first floor with plans to expand to the other levels. The owners hope to rent the upstairs as office space to local creators.
How the book store was started
The Cozy Book Nook began after Tony, a 1993 Beavercreek High School graduate who served six years in the Marines and worked decades in IT, started tossing around ideas of what he could do in retirement.
As an independent, published author himself, the couple has a passion for supporting other indie authors.
“We started selling our own used books online,” Garcia said. “That’s kind of where it first started.”
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Garcia, who grew up in Maine and described herself as an avid reader, has lived in the Dayton region for 13 years and is a nurse at the Dayton VA Medical Center.
The couple started The Cozy Book Nook on South Dixie Drive in Moraine as a low-risk opportunity to see if people were interested in having a local indie book store.
“It’s grown,” Garcia said. “Every month is better than the month before, so it’s a good sign.”
Their goal is to have Tony work full-time at the bookstore.
Having a selection for everybody
In addition to having extra space, The Cozy Book Nook is planning to expand its selection and hours.
The bookstore started offering bestsellers a couple months ago after customers were asking for new books.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The couple also recently went to the Mid-Ohio Indie Author Book Expo where they brought back around 30 more indie titles. This came after 50 percent of their indie inventory was wiped out during Independent Bookstore Day.
“If you’re familiar with the indie author community, there’s not a lot of big name authors out there,” Tony said. “People don’t necessarily come for specific authors when they come to a bookstore that serves indie books. They just buy books that look interesting to them.”
The bookstore also offers collectible books.
“We want something for everyone that walks in and we also want to hit all the different price points,” Garcia said.
Customers will be able to get a used book for around $2 or a new, sprayed-edge special edition for $35-$40.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Creating a community
The owners hope to continue creating a community among their customers.
“Even in our current location, we’ve tried to create a community,” Garcia said. “We have some book clubs there. We have people that just keep coming back and we’ve got this nice vibe going on that people just want to be in the space.”
A book club featuring traditional books meets the first Friday of every month. From 6-8 pm. Sept. 12, they will discuss “The Boyfriend” by Freida McFadden.
They also offer an indie book club that meets the third Friday of every other month where they discuss three different indie books. Readers do not have to read all three books — they can come just to hear the feedback. The next one is 6-8 p.m. Oct. 17.
Tony is starting a beer crawl book club in January the second Wednesday of every month where they will discuss a different book, while visiting a brewery on the Dayton Ale Trail.
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
Other events they plan to host at the bookstore include a speed-dating style event for dark romance/horror books where each author will have a few minutes to pitch their book.
They also want to host events for writers such as brainstorm or critique sessions, as well as poetry events.
Something else they are working on is an award night for their indie authors.
“There’s so much we want to do,” Tony said. “This place is going to allow us to... create an experience when you come, so you’re not going to come just to look for books.”
They hope to create a “third place” for people — a community gathering spot that’s separate from home (first place) or work (second place).
“Community is what we need most nowadays,” Tony said. “I think what people are really wanting is really to feel like they belong.”
“You can’t beat the convenience of shopping online,” Garcia said. “What you don’t get with shopping online is that personal touch of a bookseller telling you, ”I read this book, it’s really good," or “Hey, this one’s had really good reviews.” You don’t have that and a lot of people really just want to touch a book before they buy it."
MORE DETAILS
The Cozy Book Nook will be open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, 5-8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and noon-4 p.m. Saturday.
In the meantime, books can be ordered on the store’s website to be shipped or for local pickup. They also do mobile bookstore events in Waynesville and Centerville.
Garcia’s favorite genre is historical fiction, but she reads almost everything including romance. Tony is big into sci-fi mystery.
For more information, visit thecozybooknook.com or the store’s Facebook or Instagram pages (@thecozybooknookdayton).
The Cozy Book Nook has partnerships with bookshop.org and libro.fm.
About the Author
