June 24, 2022

REACH Literacy has opened a pop-up bookshop in the Jones421 Building — but shop soon because it won’t be permanent.

Director Paige Carda knew she wanted to have a pop-up somewhere downtown, program director Brooke Sieff said, but wasn’t sure where or when an affordable space for the nonprofit would show up. When Sheila Hazard, who manages the Jones421 Building offered a place for REACH to set up, Sieff said the nonprofit organization knew it had to take the opportunity.

“At our current location at the Western Mall, we are just bursting at the seams,” Sieff said. “So when we got the opportunity to set up shop in the Jones421 Building, we were really excited.”

The main REACH location has a wide variety of books from fiction to fantasy, Sieff said, but anyone who visits the pop-up shop will find a larger selection of vintage books, especially science fiction, and other unique items.

“We have a display cabinet at the Jones building, so we can keep some stuff out that maybe would be a little too fragile to be on display at our main store,” she said. “Some of it is curated a bit more for that space as well.”

One of the most important reasons to start a pop-up shop was for REACH to reach a demographic it doesn’t at the Western Mall location, she added.

“We wanted to reach out to folks in another part of town, like in our downtown area, where so many people who come through have never heard of us,” Sieff said. “It’s nice to be able to offer a space that’s family-friendly, and that we can just kind of share the good news of REACH with a few more folks that maybe have never heard of us.”

REACH provides tutoring for adult and youth emerging readers. Part of its funding comes through the sale of donated books.

The space that REACH is occupying was formerly a dining area for other tenants. Sieff said the open-air concept, which is very different from other retailers in the first-floor marketplace, has proven to be beneficial for REACH to have access to those who frequent the building at 421 N. Phillips Ave.

The design “gives people an opportunity to kind of wander through our space without feeling like they’re definitely shopping,” Sieff said. “It gives us an opportunity to, in passing, share with them a little information about REACH. So they don’t feel like, OK, I have to buy a book to learn about this place.”

The pop-up is going to be active until at least the end of July, Sieff said, but there are no set dates for an official end. It’s open from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.