We're getting excited for our Spring Roadtrip to Decorah, featuring education for booksellers, author reception, and many opportunities to hang out with your colleagues and friends while visiting a beautiful, historic Midwestern town.

Please review all the meeting details as you make your plans. As a reminder...

• March 24: Literary Open Mic. Register to read here
• March 25: Meeting at Hotel Winneshiek and Dragonfly Books. Register to attend

Also, have some fun while you're in Decorah and visit some of Dragonfly staff's favorite places! Save some extra time for yourself if you can and inspire yourself by wandering around a town rich with independent businesses. See you there!

Click around below or go directly to the map in full-size view

Primary meeting locations

• Pulpit Rock Brewing Company
• Hotel Winneshiek
• Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Decorah
• Dragonfly Books

Sarah's Top Decorah Picks!

• Cardboard Robot
• T-Bock's
• Impact Coffee
• The Courtyard & Cellar
• Red-Roxy Quilt Co

Kate R.'s Top Decorah Picks!

• Vesterheim: The National Norwegian-American Museum & Heritage Center
• Ruby's Restaurant & Catering
• Blue Heron Knittery
• Winneshiek County Convention & Visitors Bureau

Kate S.'s Top Decorah Picks!

• Decorah Public Library
• Decorah Hatchery
• Donlon Pharmacy & Toy Jungle
• Magpie Restaurant & Cafe
• Modish

"As you know, the Book World Company closed all of their stores in January 2018.  One of their stores was located in the Junction Shopping Center, DeKalb IL. They left all of their trade fixtures in this store.  The Junction Center tried to market this store as a turnkey bookstore but was not successful in finding a new tenant for this space. In December, we started to liquidate all fixtures in the store. We have sold about 40 % of the fixtures but still have over two hundred available for sale. Most of the available fixtures are the 4 feet bookcases as listed in your January 2018 posting."
 
I thought your members in the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association may have an interest in these fixtures. Please contact me if you have any questions."
  
Richard Finn
Junction Shopping Center
DeKalb, IL 60178
815 761 0830 (cell)
Junctioncenter.com

What a wonderful year! Over the course of 2018, our association enjoyed a new record high: 23 independent bookstores joined our ranks. Of these stores, 11 opened their doors for the first time; 10 were already open; and 2 are prospective stores in the processing of opening. 

What do we attribute this to? Last year, we witnessed the closing of Book World, a family-run chain of more than 40 stores throughout the Midwest. In its wake, a number of single independent bookstores opened in storefronts and towns that previously had a Book World.

In addition, last year we introduced a brand-new program: the Midwest Indie Bookstore Roadmap, an old-school foldable "roadmap" of Midwest bookstores as well as book-related ads (see photo on the right), distributed for free to consumers across our region. As we've shared before, it was a tremendous success and led quite a few stores our way so they could enjoy a custom Kevin Cannon store illustration and be included in this year's roadmap. Especially fun, the consumer contest organized around the hashtag #BookstoreRoadmap has led to an amazing collection of smiling customer posing outside of our member stores.

In the 2018 calendar year, MIBA welcomed the following stores to its membership. Please get to know them and welcome them to another prosperous year in bookselling. 

Opened in 2018
Canterbury Book Store in Escanaba MI 
Wild Thyme Books in Carbondale IL 
Novel Bay Booksellers in Sturgeon Bay WI 
The Book Deal in Madison WI (used bookstore) 
OtherWorlds Books & More in Sturgeon Bay WI 
Skylark Bookshop in Columbia MO
River Dog Book Co. in Beaver Dam WI 
Dotters Books in Eau Claire WI 
Cream & Amber in Hopkins MN
The Willow Bookstore in Perham MN 
The Irreverent Bookworm in Minneapolis MN 

Opened previously
The Book Store in Appleton WI 
Driftless Books in Wabasha MN 
Corner Books in Minneapolis  
The Sly Fox Bookstore in Virden IL
Whimsy on Main in Milbank SD 
The Book Shoppe in Boone IA 
M and M Bookstore in Cedar Rapids 
The Village Booksmith in Baraboo WI 
EyeSeeMe African American Children’s Bookstore in University City MO 
Heritage Store in Pierre SD (opened 1989)

Two additional member stores that are not yet opened are not listed here.