Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Indie Bookstore Spotlight: Farley's Bookshop

 We recently took a short ride to New Hope, Pennsylvania to take Henry to the Bucks County Children's Museum - a really fun interactive place that we're sure to go back to!  After our museum outing and a quick lunch, I asked Tom if we could walk around the adorable downtown area a bit and maybe stop by a local bookstore - turns out he had done his research ahead of time and already knew where it was!  So, we strolled down to Farley's Bookshop!


Farley's Bookshop originally opened in 1967 after a husband and wife team purchased an existing bookstore (the owner was retiring).  In 1971, they moved to their current location.  The shop was owned by the Farley family until October 2022, when they sold it to three long-time employees!




When you walk in, you are immediately greeted by the employees at the register.  To the left, there are some bookish items (like tote bags) and notecards, among other little gift ideas.  The first room is mostly devoted to nonfiction, in tall bookshelves along the walls.  Areas like food and history are highlighted here.  The store then opens up into another very large room in the back (I was surprised at how big the store was - definitely a TARDIS moment, ha!).  Adult fiction lined one wall, which then led into YA, picture books, and more children's books.  In the center was a rack of children's non-bookish items - puzzles, coloring books, etc. - and a great selection of interesting chapter books for young readers.  The room was so bright, airy, and welcoming, just a beautiful place to walk around.


I ended up choosing a book for Henry (Planet Earth from the Hello, World! series).  The employee helping me check out commented that his own kids loved this series, so that was a nice recommendation!

Have you visited any independent bookstores recently?

18 comments:

  1. I love it when bookstores have a Tardis moment 😂

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  2. My kid (who will be 29) was in grade school the last time I went to New Hope. I need to get down there. Lovey store

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  3. How nice that they were able to sell it to long-time employees! I feel like that would make me feel much better about having to sell a family bookstore like that. Looks like such a cool bookstore, too! I love when they are even bigger than you expect, haha.

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    1. Right? That's awesome to have such great employees.

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  4. What a nice looking bookshop! I haven't been to New Hope in years. It's such a cute town!

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    1. It is adorable and such a fun place to walk around.

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  5. What a cute book shop! I haven't been to an independent bookstore in person in a couple of years, but I've ordered books from a few.

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    1. Definitely ordering from them is a great option if you can't visit in person!

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  6. We unfortunately don't have any independent bookstore within a 30 min distance of us. So we have to make do with buying our books from Target and Barnes and Noble. Though we do try to visit bookstores when we travel.

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    1. I love visiting bookstores when we travel, too!

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  7. This looks like a delightful store! And yay Tardis effect ! :)

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    1. Haha, yes! Bookstores always need to be bigger!

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  8. I just love finding/exploring indie bookstores. This one looks wonderful!

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  9. This looks like such a nice store! And how lovely that your husband had already done some research on local bookstores before your trip! :)

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I'm so glad you stopped by, and I would love to hear your thoughts! Comments are always greatly appreciated!