A brand new books-without-batteries bookstore has opened in the Nob Hill area. Family owned, Organic Books recently opened its doors in a part of town that hasn’t had a bookstore in decades. The Brewer family owns and operates the shop.
Seth Brewer, who graduated from the University of New Mexico last spring, said the idea for the store’s name came from the value of reading physical paper books and not just picking up a tablet or a phone to consume literature.
“We have been successful. The Nob Hill community has been very receptive to having a bookstore again,” Seth Brewer said.
Seth Brewer runs the store along with his brother Max, and his parents Steve and Kelly. Steve Brewer is a professor in the UNM Honors College and the author of multiple books. Kelly Brewer is also a UNM alumni.
“We are a very literary family. We like books, we like reading books, we just like having books around,” Seth Brewer said.
According to Max Brewer, he and his mother are both organic gardeners. While the store lacks organic plants at the moment, Max said, this was also part of the stores cheeky name. The bookstore is the kind of place he said they wanted to see open up in Nob Hill.
“It's been rewarding to meet people in the neighborhood — book people. We have these great conversations every day, on all different topics, and the people that come in are so diverse,” Max Brewer said.
Bookstop opened up in the same location as Organic Books many years ago, Seth Brewer said. The store is geared towards local authors and the Nob Hill area lacked the type of book store the Brewer family wanted to see.
“There are at least 60 local author’s work and around 12,000 books in total,” Seth Brewer said.
Steve Brewer has taught at UNM for the past 12 semesters and has published 31 books. His most recent publication was a comic crime novel titled “Cold Cuts.”
“I've spent the past 25 years sitting in bookstores and I have lots of ideas about how a bookstore should operate,” Steve Brewer said.
One of the greatest challenges the Brewer family faced in opening up Organic Books was negotiating rent in Nob Hill. According to Steve Brewer, owning a business in that area can be quite expensive — however, the foot traffic brought in by the area makes up for the cost of rent.
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Organic Books frequently hosts local authors for readings, meetings and greetings. Seth Brewer said the store hosts a local author as often as every two weeks. The store is open everyday except Monday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“I guess most people who start bookstores will tell you that: a good book made them eventually start a bookstore. But it's true. It was such a gift. I feel I have to give back,” Max Brewer said.
Megan Holmen is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @megan_holmen.
