Amber Salazar is just the kind of idealist who would end up running a bookstore — a lifelong reader who felt angered “to the core” as she learned of book bans around the United States.
A resident of Colorado Springs, Colo., Salazar last year opened Banned Wagon Books, a pop-up store she sets up everywhere from wineries to coffee shops, featuring frequently censored works such as Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer,” Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give” and Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”
“I decided that no matter what it looked like, I was going to open a bookstore so that I could contribute in some small way and stand up for intellectual freedom in the U.S.,” explains Salazar, 33, who donates 5% of her profits to the American Library Association and other organizations opposing bans. “Since we were coming out of the (COVID-19) pandemic at that time, I started thinking about ways to combine my love of literature and passion for intellectual freedom with my appreciation for the small businesses in my city who weathered some difficult storms through shutdowns and supply chain concerns.”
She is among a wave of new — and, often, younger — owners who helped the independent book community dramatically expand, intensify and diversify.
Purpose-driven
Independent bookselling is not a field for fortune seekers: Most local stores, whether run by retirees, bookworms or those switching careers in middle age, have some sense of higher purpose. For many who opened in recent years, it’s an especially critical mission…