DES MOINES, Iowa — For many bookworms, their love of reading starts early.
"I've got two whole bookshelves full of different books that I've been getting through. And I definitely grew a lot since the pandemic since I had a lot more time to myself," shopper Nathan Long said.
Long was just one of the shoppers at Beaverdale Books on April 30, adding even more books to those shelves. To mark Independent Bookstore Day, seven local sellers — including Storyhouse Bookpub, Beaverdale Books, Reading in Public and more — were giving out passports over the weekend that visitors could check off as they stopped by the different stores.
"I'm slowly working my way through my bookshelf. And, of course, here I am buying a ton of books to add on to the list," said Rhys Van Ryswyk, who was shopping at Storyhouse.
Visitors who made it out to all seven shops and turned them in before stores closed on Sunday were entered into a drawing featuring prizes all of the retailers.
But shoppers say they didn't need the extra push to look local.
"I prefer to shop local, just because I think community is very, very important. And recently we've been lacking, but with these, it's starting to come back," Van Ryswyk said.
That rebound was a pretty big one. A 2020 study from Harvard University found that the number of independent bookstores was up by about 49% when compared to 2009.
"They're so connected with everywhere else in the community, like their local artists that sell their their works and and just a bunch of locals that come in and share everything with each other," said Quinn Harbison, who was shopping at Storyhouse.
Data from career recruitment firm Zippia says that book sales in the US totaled more than $29.8 billion in 2022, up more than $2 billion compared to 2020.