Bramble Bookery: Rookie bookseller looks to continue the legacy of longtime Centralia bookshop
When Brandi Morgan was young, she found herself in trouble with a school librarian. Not because she was too loud or disruptive, but because she checked out so many books that the librarian didn't think it was possible she read them all.
Decades later, she's got more books than she could read in a lifetime as the proud new owner of Bramble Bookery, the bookstore located at 123 N. Tower Ave. in Centralia. It's the same space that once housed ABC Books and, most recently, Book, Bone & Stone.
When the previous owner, Danielle Cook, posted her business for sale on Instagram, the gears in Morgan's mind began to turn.
Before speaking to her daughter-in-law she "knew within a couple of minutes what I could call it," Morgan said. "Then I decided I would send her an email and ask her how much she was selling the business for."
Cook's Instagram post went up on March 19, the two spoke the same day, and by April 30, the deal was done and Morgan was a bookseller.
Morgan hadn't spent her life dreaming of owning a bookstore. In fact, she worked, and continues to work, a day job as a paralegal for a firm in Olympia.
It's a career she loves deeply, evident by her 30 years of tenure, but when she saw Cook's post, she realized the store was an opportunity to create a safe haven for not only the community but for herself.
"There are no book emergencies," she said with a smile. "This is a respite from my stress."
Six weeks into her journey as a bookseller, she's enjoying the ability to come to her store, organize books and speak with like-minded customers, especially young people looking to start their literary journey.
She recently added a former elementary school librarian, Linda Padilla, to the team and hopes that the two of them can continue to build on the foundation set by former operators of the continuously woman-owned bookstore, Danielle Cook of Book, Stone & Bone and LaRae Roe, who operated the store as ABC Books.
Morgan plans on expanding the store's selection of new, history and youth-focused titles, while maintaining and updating the selection of used books and classics. She also hopes to continue the community feeling the bookstore has enjoyed throughout its lifespan.
She welcomes anyone and everyone into the store and is excited to introduce customers to new genres from historical fiction to classics and everything in between.
Bramble Bookery is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m, Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., and closed Monday through Tuesday.
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