A new shopping option in downtown Franklin is filled wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling with a hand-curated selection of bestselling fiction, local history and current events.
Wild Geese Bookshop is the first store of its kind in downtown Franklin in many years — and the first retail venture for its owner, Tiffany Lauderdale Phillips.
Philips is a corporate law and mediation attorney. She and her husband, George Phillips, a Franklin College assistant professor of English, and their grade-school age son and daughter moved to Franklin in the summer of 2015 from Danville, Kentucky, after George got his position at the college.
The two had dreamed of opening their own bookstore for years, but they’d lived in other areas where the brick-and-mortar book shop market was mostly filled, so they were looking for an area where they’d have their own niche.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“It’s been in my heart for decades,” Tiffany said.
After they moved, they knew Franklin was the perfect place for their new store. Franklin hasn’t had a bookstore downtown for many years, and a college town should have one, she said.
“I’ve needed the people of Franklin, and they needed a bookstore,” she said. “I’m tickled to be here.”
Franklin College students and faculty are not the only ones who’ve become loyal members of the store’s customer base.
Jason Mowery, a Franklin resident, was in the store shopping just before Christmas for his daughter. He had been trying to foster an interest in her with books and reading. She hadn’t really gotten into reading for pleasure until she discovered books by Kate DiCamillo, a children’s author, and she was hooked.
Mowery was buying a new DiCamillo book for her. He likes the idea of kids getting engaged with printed books. So much of their homework is completed on iPads or computers, he said. It’s a challenge to get some kids interested in the print versions of stories, he added.
Poetry and young adult books have sold very well at Wild Geese. Customers also like Phillips’ selection of novelty gifts and other merchandise, which include literature-themed T-shirts with book covers and other designs, adult coloring books, cooking accessories, stationary, coffee mugs and a variety of other items that are either made locally or where money made from the purchase goes toward charity.
Tiffany wants to take a love of literature to another level — she also wants the store to become a meeting place in Franklin.
Anyone who has a book to recommend can fill out a card and put it in a copy of the book in the store. Sharing ideas and getting ideas from customers is important to Phillips because she wants to make sure she’s stocking the books locals want.
“No one is the ultimate authority (on books),” she said. “It’s all stories.”
Many of 2016’s bestsellers and highly rated books by both critics and readers are displayed on a table at the front of the shop. That includes titles like “S” by J.J. Abrams, which reads like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book for grown-ups, as well as critically-acclaimed fiction, such as “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead, “In the Woods” by Tana French and “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch.
Phillips is always ready to offer her insight to customers who want a good read. Recent favorites of hers are “My Name is Lucy Barton” by Elizabeth Strout and “The Mothers” by Brit Bennett.
Tiffany knows the challenges that brick-and-mortar retail stores face in today’s online shopping world. Few bookstores are left in the area. Greenwood is home to Half Price Books and Barnes and Noble. Both stores serve a valuable niche, but Wild Geese’s strength is in its locality, she said.
“When you shop online, it’s just not the same experience,” she said.
If she’s not carrying a title a customer wants, she’ll order it and text them when it comes in. There are no shipping fees, and she can typically get books from her distributor within a day or two. Orders come in almost daily, she said.
Eventually, the store will have a website where customers can order some of the store’s more unique merchandise.
In the meantime, the store’s uniqueness will continue taking hold, she said.
“I think what we provide is a unique experience. Any time we have an opportunity to be part of our communities and have conversations about books and meet each other — allowing a book to find you — I think that’s a different experience altogether,” she said.
“Independent bookstores are not just about the books, it’s about the experience of being around ideas and places you’ve never been before (through reading); it gives us a chance to find ourselves in others and understand each other’s perspectives. We want people to feel part of something special — you can’t replicate that experience online.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Wild Geese Bookshop, 107 S. Water St., Franklin, is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Visit the store’s website at www.wildgeesebookshop.com or call the store at 317-494-6545 for more information.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
