Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Beyondish asked me to profile my local indie bookstore in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I couldn’t say “yes please” fast enough. I worked at Schuler Books in 2007 as a holiday temp bookseller—the most fun I’ve ever had in a retail job. Book people are the best people: employees and customers alike. They asked me to stay on, but I had tiny kids at home and was trying to get a writing career off the ground. So I ultimately (and with some trepidation) turned the job down. A few months later, my first book, Real Life & Liars, sold at auction to HarperCollins. Schuler Books celebrated its publication, and every book I’ve published ever since, in style.
To mark the occasion of Independent Bookstore Day, I spoke with Elizabeth Bosscher, marketing manager at Schuler Books. The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity, with a few comments added in by yours truly.
Elizabeth Bosscher of Schuler Books, Grand Rapids, MI.
Beyondish is all about great local food nationwide (with a warm spot in their hearts for local bookstores!). Could you share your favorite item in the Schuler Books Café?
I really like the artichoke panini. It’s just kind of your classic, feels-comforting cafĂ© food. [KR: That’s my favorite, too!]
Other than Schuler Books Cafe, your favorite local breakfast in town?
My husband and I like picking up Sandy’s Donuts. That’s a special treat favorite of ours.
Sandy’s is a classic, old-school donut shop. Speaking of food, do you have a favorite chef memoir or cookbook?
Oh yes! Samrin Nosrat is the author–her book Salt Fat Acid Heat. I’ve followed along with her on the Internet for a while and I think she is brilliant, but so down-to-earth and so committed to teaching you how cooking works and introducing you to all these different flavors and ideas and processes. But in a way that doesn’t make you feel bad for not knowing them.
Beach read, or cozy fireplace?
Normally cozy fireplace, but I’m so ready for summer. [KR: we were talking on a day that was so grey and blustery that garbage cans were freely roaming the city, propelled by gale force winds.] Actually, by the pool is my favorite in the summer, with an adventure story or a really good romance.
Do you have something you read recently, or are particularly looking forward to, for poolside reading?
I just finished the newest Emily Henry (Great Big Beautiful Life) and it was as good as the rest of her catalog. I like complex and interesting characters. [KR: Same, and I also love Emily Henry]
After visitors to Grand Rapids have spent their time at Schuler, do you have a favorite local spot or activity to send them to?
Riverside Park–north of downtown, along the Grand River with walking trails, playgrounds, picnic tables and towering mature trees–is just such a nice place to walk or hang out. Grand Rapids shines its best at festivals, so if you can catch it at a festival, downtown is incredible. The Asian-Pacific Festival, the food trucks there are top notch. [KR: This year, June 13-15.]
As far as Schuler history and lore, who would be the most famous guest or author the store has hosted? [Operations Manager Tim Smith popped by to join us for some of our chat.]
Elizabeth: Governor Gretchen Whitmer last fall! There’s a few everyone talks about in our history, such as [former secretary of state] Madeleine Albright. [Some events are hosted by Schuler Books in offsite venues.] We got to host Christopher Paolini. On Monday in the store we hosted Jeneva Rose and on Tuesday we hosted Lauren Roberts, and those were both 300 to 400 people in attendance.
Tim: Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright. David Sedaris. Nick Offerman. A long time ago here, we hosted Queen Noor [of Jordan], and that was here in the store. One of my favorites is this guy who called saying, “I was wondering if I could come by Saturday afternoon and see if anyone would like to meet me?” He probably sold about 15 books or so. The next time he came, there were probably 600 people here waiting to see him. That person was [popular financial advice guru] Dave Ramsey. We hosted American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo at the Lansing location once. When Divergent was huge, Veronica Roth. My very first event was John Updike.
I think people would be surprised to hear of an independent bookstore hosting events with 300-400 people. Would you agree that folks are surprised that an independent bookstore is so big and expansive?
I would say that’s our biggest “wow” factor. It is surprising to both customers as well as other independent bookstores about how big we are, sometimes we have to work a little bit to explain it to people. For example, this store [the flagship store in Grand Rapids, one of four Michigan locations] is 35,000 square feet and that is almost unheard of.  Here in our event studio we can easily and comfortably seat 150 people with more space if people want to stand.
Author Kristina Riggle reading at Schuler Books.
What about locally prominent customers?
Gary D. Schmidt [The Wednesday Wars and many other award-winning works]. He’s such a big deal author and he’s just so casually hanging out. He’s the most humble famous author that you can ever imagine. [KR: He has a dedicated page at the Schuler Books website.]
Fun facts about Schuler that people don’t know?
Across our four stores last year we ran 168 events not including story times. In our café, about 20 percent of our menu has been the same since we opened the first café in Okemos [outside Lansing] in 1995.
How did your booksellers get so good on TikTok?
A willingness to be silly, honestly. Our TikTok has been really fun; it’s been a really great creative outlet for our staff. We try not to take ourselves too seriously, but in a small way, try to recreate what you can experience in our store.
Do people come in and recognize booksellers from TikTok?
Yeah, we have a few TikTok celebrities now that customers recognize.
What about unusual customer requests?
Tim: “I don’t remember what it’s called but the cover is blue.” There have been lots of people through the years who have come in and said “Are there any books about how to start a bookstore-slash-coffee shop?” So that’s usually pretty comical because we say, “Oh, you mean like this place?”
If you’re dining alone, either in a restaurant or maybe just a feral dinner of whatever’s in your fridge, do you have a favorite book you would want to read?
I’m not much of a re-reader, but I will say my favorite series is the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, and so that sounds like an ideal day to me, to have some really good food by myself, reading an Inspector Gamache book.
AUTHOR
Kristina Riggle is a novelist who lives in greater Grand Rapids, Michigan. One of her favorite things to do is eat out at local spots. In her spare time she likes to run and read, but not at the same time. Her latest novel, about a legendary Broadway producer and songwriter haunted by a mysterious woman and a clouded past, is called Vivian in Red.
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