CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's a novel idea: A monthlong effort is now underway, encouraging people in the Charlotte area to visit as many independent bookstores as they can.
The Greater Charlotte Book Crawl (GCBC) kicked off April 1 and runs through April 30, and 19 independent bookstores in the area are participating.
To encourage people to visit as many as possible, there's a "passport" system in place. Each participating bookstore has passports and stamps to give out, no purchase required. Passports can also be printed out from the GCBC website.
Anyone who visits all nineteen stores during the book crawl will receive a GCBC tote bag, all they need to do is show a completed passport at one of the 19 bookstores. Additionally, those who submit a photo of their filled-out passport will be entered to win one of three gift cards from several bookstores.
The participating bookstores cover various cities and towns in the area including Belmont, Charlotte, Concord, Cornelius, Davidson, Harrisburg, Kannapolis, Monroe, Mooresville, Mt. Holly, and Salisbury in North Carolina and Rock Hill in South Carolina.
“If you want to see vibrant small businesses in April, visit these indie bookstores,” Alissa Redmond, owner of South Main Book Company in Salisbury, said in a news release. “We are uniting together to develop a more literate, connected community within our collective networks, and this event is such a joy to experience.”
In addition to the book crawl's focus on celebrating local book stores and connecting book lovers, the event is also serving as a book drive for Promising Pages. Each participating bookstore will have a collection bin where people can donate new or gently used books for kids.
The full list of participating bookstores is as follows:
North Carolina bookstores
- Belmont Bookshop in Belmont
- Book Buyers in Charlotte
- The Book Rack in Charlotte
- Park Road Books in Charlotte
- That's Novel Books in Charlotte
- Urban Reader in Charlotte
- Goldberry Books in Concord
- Walls of Books in Cornelius
- Main Street Books in Davidson
- Second Look Books in Harrisburg
- Editions in Kannapolis
- Archimedes’ Loft in Monroe
- The Book Lady in Monroe
- Fred and June’s Books in Mooresville
- Cleary’s Bookstore in Mt. Holly
- South Main Book Co. in Salisbury
South Carolina bookstores
- Corks, Cooks, & Books in Rock Hill
- The Liberty Book Co. in Rock Hill
- Tall Stories in Rock Hill