Court Street Books had their grand opening on March 9. The new bookstore is located on 610 S. Court St in downtown Florence. During the grand opening they hosted food trucks SMASHED and Wander Coffee, as well as several giveaways. They also had Looks by Sarah Grace who placed hair tinsel for free alongside the food trucks and giveaways. 

The first 15 paying customers were lucky enough to choose between a free t-shirt or tote bag. After that every purchase got you a chance to spin their wheel which included items such as discounts, small prizes and some merch. This event lasted from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and was a huge success. After the grand opening, the store took a few days to recuperate, and they now are back to normal hours.

This new bookstore is owned by bibliophiles Karmen Somers and Dr. Wayne Melvin, who also owns Tennessee Valley Pediatrics. This store is something they always knew they wanted to create; they call it their passion project, and have planned it with so much love and care. They were originally set to open in late Nov. of 2023, but instead opted to give themselves some extra time to make the store have the cozy and warm feeling that it now has. 

Court Street Books will offer new books, but will also take used books in exchange for store credit from anybody who comes in. However, they will not accept books that have mold or are extremely damaged. More stipulations for the book exchange are located on their website. They will start accepting used books on Mar. 18. 

Along with new and used books, the store will also include a coffee shop. This shop will serve coffee provided by local roasters. In addition to this, they also have a meeting room which can be reserved on their website as of the time of this writing.

The store will operate six days a week, being closed on Wed. They are open from 10am to 7pm everyday except for Sunday, where their hours will be 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 

The owners want to share their love of books with everybody of every age. In doing so, there is a children’s corner located in the store.

Independent bookstores allow for a safe place for some people. Along with that, this store, by offering to take used books, helps us recycle books instead of simply just complying with wasteful tendencies of the world and today’s society.