DK Booksellers founder Neil Van Uum began renovations this week on a 6,500 sq. ft. space vacated by Brooks Brothers in downtown Cincinnati, where he lives. When the Booksellers on Fountain Square opens in July with a full-service bookstore and café with a creperie and coffee bar, it will be DK’s second store.
Van Uum, who cofounded Joseph-Beth Booksellers more than two decades ago with large-format stores and cafés, says that bigger is no longer better. He plans to take a more curated approach to The Booksellers on Fountain Square. “I’ve seen bookstores go through a lot of changes in my 25 years on the frontlines of the industry, and I’m excited to see a new era where quality outshines quantity and customers expect more than your basic retail experience,” he says. “Our mission will be to connect people with books in a personal fashion.”
The first DK store opened in summer 2011 with Van Uum’s purchase of the former Davis-Kidd Booksellers location in Memphis, Tenn., from U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The bookstore café, which was subsequently remodeled, was renamed The Booksellers at Laurelwood and is located in the Laurelwood Shopping Center.
