Wade Vetiver, owner of Green Heron, stands before his bookstore and apothecary shop in its new digs in the Lindsey-Rogers historic district near downtown San Marcos. Photo by Ursula Rogers.

Books, as physical objects, have been pronounced dead time and again, yet each time they’ve risen anew. There was a point when the invention of the Kindle and the closure of formerly ubiquitous chain bookstores like Borders really did seem like the final nail in the coffin. But a curious thing has happened recently. Not only have certain beloved and established independent bookstores such as Austin’s BookPeople held on, but certain aspects of publishing have been revitalized. Here in Central Texas, we’ve been lucky to experience the rise of the niche bookstore.

The bookstores in Hays and Caldwell counties are each small, as are their physical inventories. You can’t walk into any of them and expect to find even the selection you would in an airport bookstore stocked with the latest bestsellers. Instead, one of the things that makes shopping at each of these places so satisfying is their idiosyncrasies and the possibility of unexpected discoveries. 

Hays County

After Half Price Books closed in at the beginning of June last year, San Marcos was briefly without a single bookstore — a bizarre fate for a college town. Luckily, Green Heron Books has stepped in to fill the void. 

When the store first opened in San Marcos last year, it was in an impossibly tiny spot in a blue house across from the  HEB on West Hopkins. The limited space didn’t make a strong case for lingering. This summer, Green Heron moved to a different, roomier house near campus. Along with it moved proprietor Wade Vetiver’s other venture, Solidago Apothecary. The two stores feel like natural extensions of one another. 

The new location is decidedly more fitting for Vetiver’s community-oriented vision. The cozy shop features a variety of sofas, chairs, and outdoor seating on the wrap-around porch for visitors, as well as make-your-own coffee. On a recent weekend, the shop had attracted a crowd of crossword puzzlers; each Sunday, from 11:30am-12:30pm, the store prints out a specially created crossword and offers $5 gift cards to anyone who successfully completes the puzzle within 20 minutes. Later in the day, the store’s book club would meet to discuss “The Song of Achilles.” 

Vetiver says many of the store’s books, which run a wide gamut, are suggested by customers. He’s intentional about wanting to make the store feel collaborative, so much so that he’s launching a Green Heron zine, after having asked for submissions online (the first issue should be out in November). But the inventory is also very clearly a reflection of his interests. In addition to books, its selection of charming ephemera is carefully chosen to provide a variety of options for those searching for either a gift or a treat for themselves. The stores even carry a line of candles made by Vetiver, featuring scents such as “Dark Academia.”

Although Green Heron is currently San Marcos’s only dedicated bookstore, readers looking to browse locally can also swing by the goth-themed Triple Six Social. The multitasking business — it’s a cafe and a boutique and a museum and hosts several events each week — has several shelves stocked with topically appropriate used books. 

Owner Andrea Hernandez tells the Examiner, “I grew up in the oldest part of Austin, one that provided me with invaluable support and community resources, [including] the free Scholastic Book program at my elementary school, which turned me into a book lover.” Despite the cafe’s supernatural slant, Hernandez had always wanted to “make it family-friendly and community centered, [and] decided to prioritize the same sense of literary accessibility by incorporating a second-hand bookstore. Now I see regulars come in and read the same book daily to put back on the shelf or local book clubs holding their impromptu meetings at the cafe, which all makes my heart sing.”

Traveling further north up Ranch Road 12 to Dripping Springs, you’ll find Sunday Bookshop, which celebrated its one year anniversary in June. Owner Dixie Frechette previously ran a clothing boutique with her mother and sister, and that sensibility is reflected in the store’s bright and appealing layout. The self-described “girly” store leans heavily into certain genres, especially romance. Frechette recently relaunched the store’s book club — with October’s pick “If We Were Villains” ringing in the spooky season. 

Like Vetiver, Frechette relies on customer recommendations to provide inspiration. Even if the name Emily Henry means nothing to you, you’re likely to be pleasantly surprised by the variety to be found on the store’s shelves. The lovely layout and plentiful seating options — including a porch swing — further encourage careful browsing.

A mother and son descend the Main Street entrance of Happy Haunts in Lockhart, beneath Dracula’s watchful eye. Photo by Ursula Rogers.

Caldwell County

Over the past decade the city of Lockhart has expanded rapidly, fueled in part by an influx of priced-out expat Austinites. The growth has transformed the town square into a vibrant collection of restaurants, shops, and galleries. While once tourism was mainly limited to daytripping barbecue aficionados, among the city’s newer attractions are four bookstores (fitting for the home of the oldest continually operating library in Texas.)

Colossus Books, tucked in the back of vintage clothing store The Golden Hour, is like walking into the personal library of a bibliophile with impeccable yet eclectic taste. The tiny store, which sells secondhand and rare books, is packed with unexpected gems. Owner James Hush tells the Examiner, “I think that there is a specific type of book we carry, but it’s hard to put into words. To quote Justice Potter Stewart completely out of context, ‘I know it when I see it.’ Poetry is the main focus of the store but we sell beatnik novels, Latin American literature, a lot of philosophy, fancy cookbooks and civil rights-era history and politics. I once overheard a customer tell a friend, ‘There’s no Joel Osteen but there sure is a lot of Thomas Merton.’”  

Hush says that while he’s been collecting and trading books for about 20 years, the store is his first. “Originally when my partner Courtney of Golden Hour asked me to sell on consignment, it was going to be mostly vintage kitchenware with a small selection of books and records. A neighbor on the square saw me building the first bookshelf and said, ‘That’s so exciting, we don’t have anywhere to buy books in Lockhart.’ I decided to move the focus to books and over the last three years we’ve grown from one single shelf to a little over half the building.”

While the store is too small to accommodate a crowd, Hush says that he and Courtney sometimes partner with nearby bar Arts and Craft to host events. Additionally, “I get to witness a lot of small connections in the store though and I feel like those accumulate over time to help build a community of readers and writers as well.”

In contrast, Haunt Happy Books, which opened at the start of the year in the basement underneath Loop and Lil’s Pizza, offers a cornucopia of events. In addition to its book club, Coffee Macabre, the horror-themed store hosts “First Fright Days,” movie nights, and workshops. Haunt Happy is a thoughtfully decorated goth paradise, with velvet-upholstered couches in the middle of the store, and somehow manages to stock something for nearly everyone within its theme; it even has a small children’s section.

Founder CJ Hoyt says, “It’s always a joy talking books with customers and finding the right book to give them nightmares. What other line of work has that kind of mission statement?” Although it might not be intentional, the creak of diners’ footsteps overhead adds to the spooky ambience. 

On the same stretch of the square as Haunt Happy is Magnolia Bookery and Gifts, which also opened this year. The store’s selection of books for older readers is fairly limited, yet its children’s section not only features a wide variety of books and toys but a child-sized table and chairs for younger shoppers to sit and read. The sun-filled spot also offers various greeting cards and gifts. 

Rounding out Lockhart’s bookstores is Best Little Wine & Books, which opened in 2022. The brightly painted building is definitely more wine than books, but its small collection of culinary titles pairs well with its much broader stock of wine, beer, and sake. 

Although our local bookstores are diverse in focus, they’re similar in that each one is very much a labor of love. At a time when the far right’s enthusiasm for book-banning is headed toward “Fahrenheit 451,” these stores are a powerful salve for the book-loving community. There are worlds of possibility on their shelves that cannot be bought on Amazon.

BY AMY KAMP