Come Saturday, Oct. 18, a new bookstore called Beyond the Book, A Literary Experience, will be open in downtown Homewood with a focus on cultivating a literary community.
The grand opening is at 2 p.m. The store is at 18063 Dixie Highway.
Resident and bookstore owner Tenia Davis said it has always been a dream of hers to have a bookstore and the opportunity perfectly presented itself for her.
“I think the world is in kind of a flux, and I think it’s so important to have some sort of literacy awareness around books, so they don’t go away,” Davis said.
There is something special about connecting with a book and getting lost in it, Davis said. As someone who grew up with safe spaces to read and connect with others, she feels those spaces are still needed now.
“The aspect of sitting in a room with someone and learning a little about you and why you love this book,” Davis said.
This will be the bookstore’s first physical location and Davis’s first bookstore after working as a corporate executive for the last two decades.
Davis, who earned a Ph.D., said she has a passion for learning and always has had a love for books.
“I’ve always wanted to create a space intentionally for my community,” Davis said. “I think this would be a great opportunity to do that.”
As an author, Davis said she understands the struggles writers face and how some of them stem from lack of knowledge.
Beyond the Book will host workshops, networking events, a podcast room, and other literacy programs to cultivate a community, she said.
“Kids can come and have their book club, teenagers can come and have their space,” Davis said. “I think the first event I am doing is a murder mystery, and for the teenagers I am going to do a ‘Who Done It?’ type of thing.”
Davis is a longtime resident of Homewood and said working with the village has been a great experience, along with people coming by to congratulate her on the business.
She made the concept for the bookstore two years ago and realized she should do it now, she said.
“I said I really want to do this and do it in a way where the community can engulf it and say yeah this is what we need, this is what we want,” Davis said.
