Atlanta bookstores offer contact-free delivery amid coronavirus

Bookish in East Atlanta Village is offering contact-free delivery

After being hit hard by the world of e-commerce, independent bookstores throughout the country have had a bit of a renaissance in recent years.

For people isolated at home amid the coronavirus outbreak, some of Atlanta’s locally owned bookstores are offering to drop reading materials at your door.

Since March, Kendra Gayle Lee has been delivering books throughout Atlanta. She owns Bookish in East Atlanta Village, which is offering contact-free delivery of the books the store has in stock.

In addition to delivering, Lee is calling upon customers to help her store, which she opened last fall. Since making the decision to put new book orders on hold, Lee is asking folks to hold on to their gently used books to consider donating to Bookish when it is safe to do so.

“We need you to hang on to these gently used piles of awesomeness for a little while. Our goal is to start collecting the books y’all have for us sometime in May,” she wrote on Facebook. “But we don’t have an exact time frame yet. It all depends on this dang virus. We want to keep ourselves & our customers safe. So we’re trying to devise a plan. More to come on that!”

Books can be ordered on the store's website.

A Cappella books is also offering delivery. At first the free delivery was a 10-mile radius of its Inman Park store. However, the bookstore now says it will deliver "Monday - Saturday to most in-town Atlanta neighborhoods" on orders more than $20.

"If you don't see what you're looking for on our website, please call or email. We can provide most titles within a week," the store wrote on Facebook. "Thanks again for supporting us and all of your local indies and small businesses!"

Charis Books and More, the oldest independent feminist bookstore in the South and one of the longest-standing bookstores in Atlanta, is not currently offering curbside pick-up, but the store is processing online orders and shipping daily, according to a Facebook post.

“We appreciate your continued support; every sale helps us continue to pay our booksellers while we are closed,” the store wrote in a Facebook post.

Charis has also partnered with the audio book company, Libro.FM, which will give new sign-up fees to Charis.

“It's a wonderful way to support us while also staying safely at home,” Charis wrote.