Ypsilanti’s Book Love Bar builds community through reading, art

Book Love Bar is a local indie bookshop building community in Ypsilanti through the joy of reading books.

Taking up the old location of Stone & Spoon gift shop, Book Love Bar is at 110 W. Michigan Ave. The business is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, open from noon to 6 p.m. Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. The store also offers event spaces after hours until 11 p.m.

“Book Love Bar was something I’ve been wanting to do for probably a decade or more, and after the pandemic, I decided to give up working in the vet field and focus on making this happen,” said Jessica Tharp, owner and operator of Book Love Bar.

While it is known best for its wide selection of books, including novels, graphic novels and manga, Book Love Bar also offers other products. It sells a variety of board games, puzzles, bookmarks, locally-made candles, journals and art pieces by local artists.

Book Love Bar is currently in the process of getting its liquor and coffee service license. While it is not able to offer alcohol or a full-service coffee bar yet, it currently has a small selection of free coffee and tea for customers. 

After receiving a liquor and coffee service license, the plan for the business is to offer cocktails, mocktails and coffee drinks themed around different books, authors and poets, Tharp said.

“I love reading; I enjoy bars, but I enjoy, more so, dive bars. I was a bartender; I worked in restaurants for 12-13 years, and it’s more about the small bar scene that has a lot of camaraderie, a lot of community,” Tharp said.

Tharp is excited to combine that love of bars with their love of reading and bookstores.

“They’ve always been like a sanctuary place for me, bookstores, libraries,” Tharp said. “Combining the two has always been a dream.”

Book Love Bar hosts several book clubs as well as book- and writing-related events each month. The shop hosts Saturday’s Song Circle, an event in which music lovers come together to share music. Song Circles are free to attend, but a donation of $15 is recommended. This event takes place on the second Saturday of each month from 6-9 p.m.

Book Love Bar also hosts open mic poetry and prose nights on the first Friday of each month from 7-9 p.m., which are free to attend.

Furthermore, the shop offers various writing workshops and book clubs. Some of the book clubs include fantasy book club, non-fiction book club, queer book club and sci-fi book club. Book clubs cost $5 to attend, but that $5 can be applied as a coupon to any purchases made in the store the day of the book club, the Book Love Bar website said.

“It’s all about community, really, I guess, when it comes down to the heart of it,” Tharp said.