05/16/2026
We have been teasing a big mystery announcement for a few weeks, which has been difficult to keep it under wraps, so here it is –we are so excited to announce that this summer we are going to be expanding Bookmarx! We have signed a lease to take over the space next door that was previously occupied by Austen Boutique.
We are taking a sledgehammer to the wall and turning this into a big downtown bookstore, so we can double (triple?) our inventory of books. We’ve already stockpiling and cannot wait to debut the new space! Recently, the piles of books have been getting taller and my space behind the counter has been shrinking, so we knew we only had two options—make the store bigger or stop buying every great book I see, and I am incapable of not buying more books!
When CJ told us she was taking a teaching position and closing Austen Boutique, we lost the perfect neighbor for our store, and when the space came open, Harvey and I decided that this is the time to try to fulfill our ultimate vision for our store.
For years, I was hampered from turning Bookmarx into the kind of bookstore I truly wanted to create. When we opened in 2014, I had grand ambitions about the kind of bookstore I was going to build. Unfortunately, I veered off the path I was attempting to create for myself, and it has taken me all this time to get back to this position. I almost closed the store in 2019. I announced we were closing, and at the time, the logical thing probably would have been to close. I was in deep debt and the store had fallen into a pitiful state. Yet, even then I couldn’t bring myself to give up on the store as I could still see the vision for what I wanted the store to be.
It took a long time, but after years of hard work we were able to climb out of the hole I created for myself, and once again turn Bookmarx into a store I’m proud of. And now, with Harvey, we have the opportunity to create something similar to the original vision I set out to create. But not the exact vision I pictured in 2014 (me as a misanthropic old bookstore crank, sitting on a pile of books, yelling at kids to buy the Heinlein novel they are flipping through or SCRAM), but a better bookstore—a real family-run bookstore where our kids get to experience growing up surrounded by books and readers, and where I get the joy of watching Harvey learn to master the book trade.
So enough about that, what changes are coming to Bookmarx?
*A book buying station! Again, the checkout counter has gotten cramped, so I will no longer be trapped behind the counter in an increasingly shrinking amount of space
*We’re adding a new expanded Children’s Area with a space for children to explore! When I started Bookmarx in 2014, I will not lie to you, the kids section was somewhere down near “Mermaid Romance” on my list or priorities, but as Springfield’s top Junie B. Jones reading stepfather, I am now spending as much time searching for Shel Silverstein as I spend looking for Bukowski!
*The best theatre section in the state! I’m just declaring this, but when the expansion launches, we will officially have the best theatre section in Missouri! Prove me wrong!
*One thing that we lost when we added Mr Googorium’s Movie Emporium was our event space for author events and book clubs. Not only are we getting back the space for events, we are pleased to introduce THE FOOTNOTE, our new intimate event space for author events, and book clubs, but that will also be a space for music and theatrical performances!
*More space = more cats? Maybe?!? We’ll see! Stay tuned!
*And for the Mr Googorium’s fans, who say “Yeah, okay, more books, blah blah blah, but what does this mean for US WATCHERS?” We will never forget about you, and rest assured, amongst other additions, THE VHS WALL IS COMING!
Bookmarx and Mr Googorium’s will be OPEN through the expansion, and we are eyeing a late summer opening date! Thank you to everyone for the years of support, and for the people who hung with us during the dark period, and to all those who (understandably) checked out and left a one star review sometime in 2018, we’re excited to reintroduce ourselves to you this summer!
Thank you for a great 12 years, and we can’t wait for an even better next 12!
