Trystyn Miller
Reporter
Tucked away in Downtown Pocatello is one of the only local bookstores in this area. I had the pleasure of meeting with the owner of this bookstore, and I can say that it is, without a doubt, a must-visit local business. Nicki Stanton, one of the owners of the Hares and Hatters Bookshop, offered the warmest of welcomes to me; through our conversation, I came to realize just how special the store and its owners genuinely are.
The idea first came about during Covid. According to Stanton, “When Covid happened, everybody was going down these rabbit holes of different things, and my mom’s side of the family was from Portland, Oregon, and I was seeing how Powell’s Books were going out of business.” Stanton explained that her interest in Powell’s books eventually turned into her search for independent bookstores in any small town she visited. “Every time I visited one of them, I remember thinking how cool they were, and I was wondering why Pocatello didn’t have one of these. I ended up going into the Well-Read Moose in Northern Idaho and having a conversation with the owner there. She ended up telling me that if I was serious about it, then I should join the American Booksellers Association.” After doing a little more research and making more connections, Stanton came into contact with the SBDC (Small Business Development Center), which is an Idaho initiative that helps people start small businesses. After speaking with a member at the SBDC, she sent out a Google document to her contacts; this document’s purpose was to see how interested the community would be in a bookstore. Sending the document got Stanton into contact with a former friend, Jamie Robyn Wood. She replied with questions about the legitimacy of the idea. Stanton and Wood met for lunch, sharing their ideas, and became business partners immediately after (they now share ownership of Hares and Hatters 50/50).
Hares and Hatters had their first event at Boo at the Zoo here in Pocatello. “We made a logo, printed a poster, and we were there helping kids make bookmarks and telling people about what we were planning to do, and from there, we got into contact with publishers and book distributors, and from there, we were in the pop-up phase.” The Hares and Hatters Bookstore was first introduced in downtown Pocatello when Glean Coffee reached out to them. The bookstore’s first night officially selling books was at the Friday Night Art Walk. They turned the back of Glean Coffee into a mini bookstore – “I went so overboard, I wanted our pop up to feel like an actual bookstore, so I got a rug, we got real shelves, and it was for the weekend a mini bookstore in the back of Glean, it was so much fun. From that moment on, I knew this was [the] endgame. I knew we were doing it. We spent the next two years popping up and doing different events.”
Selling only new books separates Hares and Hatters from the crowd, “We are new, we are all brand new books, and then we also have book-associated puzzles, and we are expanding that section as well. We like to think of ourselves as a mini Barnes and Noble. Every Tuesday is book release Tuesday – like right now, I have a stack of books in the back waiting to be released on Tuesday; it is so exciting.” Additionally, there are always exciting events going on at the bookshop. Within the next month there will be events featuring local authors Ryan Byers, Sid Sibo, and Jolie Taylor. Though the date for Ryan Byers attendance is still TBD, the other two authors will be in the bookshop on October 18th and 19th. Make sure to check out the Hares and Hatters website for more information on upcoming events, and visit them in person at 200 S Main Street Suite G or online at https://www.haresandhattersbookshop.com/
There is something so magical about this new bookshop, and I encourage everyone to check it out. Whether you are already deep into your next read, in a reading slump, or simply want to reignite your passion for books, there will be something at Hares and Hatters for you. Sometimes it can be hard to put into words the impact that books can have on you. I have always loved reading – putting myself in another world that wasn’t my own was one of the most fundamental and influential parts of my childhood. I am so lucky that I grew up in an environment where the written word was valued: in both its educational and emotional values. Through the support of my mother and grandmother, I have obtained a lifelong love and friendship with books, and that is something that I pray everyone can experience. It is through my conversation with Stanton that I realized just how much books mean to her as well, “Bookstores are so important. One of the papers I had to write as a student led me to an article about how reading makes you more empathetic. There is a really great article, ‘Mirrors, Sliding Doors, Windows.’ The idea is that experiences should be one of three things: they should be sliding doors into another experience, mirrors mirroring back your own experience, or windows that peek into another experience. It brings the whole conversation about social media into question. The algorithms on social media are always showing people the same things, and what that does is it leads you to believe that the whole world thinks the way you do. Then, when you encounter someone that thinks differently, it leads you to believe that they are the ones who are wrong and you are right. So what books do is they allow you to step into another experience; they allow you to think thoughts that aren’t your thoughts, read words that are not your own words, and it makes you more empathetic. I want a community that is empathetic, I want a community where everyone is seen on the shelf.” I have no doubt that when you visit the Hares and Hatters Bookshop, you too, will understand just how magical a bookstore can be.
