Let's start our book crawl in Davidson, where Main Street Books has been a fixture since 1987, with a mission to inspire a love of books and reading.

[light homespun music] - Bookstores are so much more than a place to buy books.

Our mission is to bring people together in conversation around books.

That happens informally as customers come in and talk to each other, ask us for what we're reading and what we'd recommend for them.

But we also create space for an author with their new book, to meet the readers who are interested in hearing its origin story and their writing practices.

And we really are truly building community around stories.

[soft guitar music] Main Street Books is in the oldest building in Downtown Davidson, and opened in 1987.

Three women just knew this town needed a bookstore, had a lot of energy, and brought a lot of life to Main Street with this project.

And then in 2015, it was time to pass the torch.

My mom and I stepped in and knew this was gonna be a grand adventure, and bought Main Street Books.

So now we're going on almost 10 years.

Main Street Books focuses on new books.

We really do bring in brand new books every Tuesday.

New Release Tuesday is a big thing in the new book world.

We bring in a lot of fiction.

We love novels and our customers love novels.

We also have a lot of memoir.

We have a lot of kids' books.

Half the store is set up for kids, and then we dabble in science books, sports, and then we've got lots of super fun bookish gifts, everything from socks to totes and all that fun stuff.

[soft guitar music] Davidson is a really quaint, magical town.

It's a combination of having really interesting people from all over the country who come to teach and work.

So we've got this kind of cosmopolitan feel to the people, but the town's been extremely intentional about planning, and so as everything has boomed around us, they've worked hard to maintain a very pedestrian-friendly place where our kids can run up here from the elementary school two blocks down the road.

[soft guitar music] [people conversing faintly] [light upbeat music] One of the things that folks often ask us about is whether it's a problem for a bookstore to be located across from the public library.

It would seem that we would be in competition or that they would be able to sort of scoop us 'cause their books are free.

The reality is that a bookstore wants to be as close to the library as possible because we are both a part of this ecosystem of readers.

We are also right next door to Summit Coffee, their original location.

Maybe the second most common question we get is, "Can y'all just bust a hole in the wall between your two shops so we can just not have to walk out on the sidewalk, take 10 steps and walk back in?"

We've got a pretty fun crowd here in downtown Davidson.

[light upbeat music] We host events that typically feature an author and their book.

We host story times in partnership with the Davidson Farmer's Market.

We also host novelists, we host memoirists, we host poetry readings, all kinds of stuff that brings readers together with writers in a moment that's pretty unique.

Bookstores are very alive and well.

It's really fun to be a part of this moment where real books, in the face of Amazon, in the face of cell phones, just like the library, readers are gonna read.

They're still coming for real books, and they are very interested in what we have on our shelves and they're very interested in what we have to say about them.

- [Deborah] Main Street Books is at 126 South Main Street in Davidson, and they're open daily.

For more information, give the shop a call at 704-892-6841, or visit them online at mainstreetbooksdavidson.com.