Bookstore with bar to open in Alamo Heights this spring

Are physical books a thing of the past?

New York Times’ best-selling author Jenny Lawson doesn’t think so. That’s why she is opening a book store, Nowhere Bookshop, that includes a bar in the heart of Alamo Heights this spring.

She says books are still magical in a digital age.

“I’ve just always sort of wanted a magical, weird place that I could go to and escape,” Lawson said.

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She understands competing with big online corporations and digital books is challenging, but that isn’t why she is opening her store.

“I definitely did not want to start a bookstore to make money, which is a really good thing because I’m not quite sure if they do make money,” Lawson said. “But I have always felt like book stores are a sanctuary.”

She wants her shop to be a sanctuary and a safe place for people who want to get lost in books. Lawson says she came up with the name Nowhere because as a child, she could travel anywhere out of nowhere by just opening a book.

“When you go to a bookstore it’s like going to a travel agency and they say where do you want to go?” Lawson said. Lawson says she believes physical books are still important and should be cherished, even more so in the digital age we live in.

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“There’s something about the physical weight of a book that is grounding,” she said. “It’s a way of looking into other people’s heads and creating empathy in a way that I don’t necessarily think we do today.”

You can connect with books and authors not only at Lawson’s store when it opens this spring, but also at the 8th Annual San Antonio Book Festival on April 4.

The festival will be held downtown next to the Central Library at 600 Soledad and the Southwest School of Art.