The Pen & Dagger Bookstore Offers Local Spot for Fantasy Enthusiasts
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Photo credit: The Pen & Dagger Bookstore Facebook
Story by Tiffany Brazda
The Pen & Dagger Bookstore in La Vista is keeping a longtime business model alive: the indie bookstore.
Officially opened in October, the bookstore, located in the newly established La Vista City Centre, is a new destination for book lovers. Owner Sydney Baty knows firsthand the significance of a bookstore in the community.
“I grew up in extremely rural Iowa, and getting to a city big enough to have a bookstore was always a special treat,” Baty said. “I could spend hours going through the shelves, something my parents and grandparents learned the hard way. Even into college and adulthood, between the shelves of a bookstore was always the place I was happiest.”
Baty studied English literature in college to pursue a career as a professor, but following earning her master’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she knew she wanted to do more beyond teaching.
“I graduated in 2020, right in the middle of lockdown, and was a bit lost for a while; I worked at Target, did online work, found myself in IT for a while … before my mother made an off-hand comment during one of my quarter-life-crisis rants: ‘Why don’t you just open a bookstore?’ So, I did. It took just about two years from that conversation, but the Pen & Dagger finally opened for business in October.”
She’s well aware of how bleak the prospects of an indie bookstore surviving in the digital age may seem. But at further reflection, digital communities have actually given the tactile experience of reading a real book a breath of new life.
“Communities like BookTok and Bookstagram are bringing together people who might have forgotten their love of reading,” she said. “Over the last 10 years, print book sales are up, more indie bookstores are opening, and more books are being published.”
Photo credit: The Pen & Dagger Booksellers Facebook
According to Statista, independent bookstores in the U.S. experienced a decline from 2019 to 2021. However, its most recent data from 2023 indicates an increase to 2,185 establishments, up from the 1,701 reported in 2021. Pen & Dagger’s vibe is cozy, with warm wood shelves filling the newly built space. The store focuses mostly on science fiction and fantasy, aiming to include older titles, which she says, can be difficult to access.
“Unless it’s joined the classics section, some books are difficult to buy in person because they’re not a hot new release,” she said. “We try to keep a core stock of the classics in the sci-fi and fantasy genres, like Terry Brooks, Joe Abercrombie, Robin Hobbs, James Corey, Margaret Atwood, and others. This way, readers can pick up the next book in the series with ease, or stumble across a new favorite.”
Pen & Dagger will be launching its Frequent Buyers Club this month. For more details and the latest titles in stock, follow the store on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.