Hans Weyandt has been selling books in the Twin Cities for 17 years and he knows how to do it: by getting people to discuss face-to-face what they love to read instead of relying on websites.
“Algorithms employed in online shopping are only capable of selling us more of what we already know and like. There are things beyond the bestseller lists but people don’t know where to go to find them,” says Weyandt, manager of of Milkweed Books, the independent bookstore opening this week. Milkweed Editions is opening the store in the Open Book literary building.
Milkweed Editions is a 36-year-old, not-for-profit literary publisher with an annual operating budget of $1.5 million that publishes 15 to 20 new books a year. In partnership with the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation, the press awards the $10,000 Lindquist & Vennum regional poetry prize.
“Milkweed Books is the only bookstore in the Midwest owned and operated by an independent literary publisher,” says Daniel Slager, Milkweed Editions publisher and CEO. “We have always sold our own books at events off site, but this is the first time we will be selling outstanding literary books from other independent publishers.”
Milkweed Books will occupy about 750 square feet of space on the first floor of Open Book, next to the Coffee Gallery coffee shop. Besides Milkweed Editions, the building is home to The Loft writers center and Minnesota Center for Book Arts. It is the largest literary building in the country and the only one co-owned by three literary arts organizations.
The new bookstore will offer titles from about 100 big and small independent presses from around the country that are publishing some of the most interesting and exciting poetry, translations, experimental and creative nonfiction and breakthrough novels that can’t always be found in other places. Among them are Copper Canyon Press, Sarabande, Tin House and McSweeney’s. There will be some bestsellers such as Colson Whitehead’s “The Underground,” long listed for a 2016 National Book Award in fiction.
Weyandt says the store will not have a set number of books in each genre, but rather “a good selection of interesting books constantly in flux.” And although he’s not playing favorites, he points out that “poetry is the first thing people see when they walk in the door.”
Minnesota’s independent presses, including Minneapolis-based Coffee House Press and Graywolf Press, always will have space on Milkweed Books’ shelves. Weyandt calls these local independent publishers “our friends, not our competitors.”
Chris Fischbach, Coffee House publisher, worked with Weyandt on the book “Read This!,” comprised of Top 50 book choices from booksellers around the country. Weyandt was editor and Fischbach publisher.
“I can’t wait to see what Hans does with the new store,” Fischbach says. “He’s been my favorite bookseller ever since we were in our 20s and I was new to Coffee House and he was a bookseller at Hungry Mind. He goes out of his way to introduce me to new things. Like the best bookseller, he broadens minds.”
Milkweed Books occupies the space where Ruminator Books (formerly the Hungry Mind) was located when Open Book was founded in 2000. It closed three years later.
“When I came to work at Milkweed Editions 11 years ago this fall,” Slager recalled, “there were tumbleweeds and parking lots, a couple of gas stations and a liquor store. Now we are in the center of the fastest-growing neighborhood in Minneapolis with condos and retail. We love that.”
Slager says having a bookstore in Open Book fulfills the founders’ vision for the building: “When you talk to visionaries who put Open Book together, a bookstore was viewed as absolutely essential from the beginning. The space has been dark and this is a great opportunity not just for Milkweed but for Open Book and the Twin Cities.”
One of the store’s innovations is a wall set up as a gallery with exhibits that will change quarterly. The opening installation looks at the ecology of the book system, including author, editor, reviewer, book representative and bookseller.
Book-lovers can set up “dates” with Milkweed Editions and bookstore staffers to get a primer on what’s happening in the literary world and recommendations for what books are right for them. It’s a sort of literary personal shopper service that should be especially helpful for book clubs that are planning a new season or want to read outside bestseller lists.
As important as inventory is to a bookstore, Slager emphasizes “we want to invite an active, two-way dialogue with our community about what they want for a bookstore. Last year, 175,000 people visited Open Book. We hope there will be more this year and we want to be responsive to them.”
Slager and Weyandt are pleased at the enthusiasm Milkweed Books has received from the industry and readers. A Kickstarter campaign already has raised about 85 percent of the $25,000 goal.
The store will not sell what Slager calls “gifty stuff” because Minnesota Center for Book Arts has a wide array of affordable quality gifts.
“We hope that after people leave Milkweed Books they’ll cross the atrium and visit Minnesota Center for Book Arts, where they’ll find beautiful artist books, handmade paper, cards, notebooks and other art,” Slager says. “And we want to be selling books we think of as little works of art.”
IF YOU GO
- What: The grand opening of Milkweed Books includes tours of Open Book, refreshments, and a short program featuring Deni Ellis Bechard, whose new novel “Into the Sun” is published by Milkweed Editions.
- When: 5:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20
- Where: Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis
- Admission: Free
- Information: 612-332-3192
