When Western Pennsylvania’s booksellers declare that Pittsburgh is book country, believe them. There are, the locals tell PW, some 30 indie bookstores serving the City of Bridges, a dozen of which are participating in the American Booksellers Association-led bookstore tours on Monday, February 23 as Winter Institute 2026 kicks off. WI2026 will take place February 23-26.
Booksellers from around the U.S. and beyond will begin gathering this weekend and into Monday, preparing to visit new bookstores, used bookstores, a children’s bookstore, a mystery bookstore, a bookstore that promotes nature and the environment, and another that serves as a refuge for endangered writers.
And for those who prefer to check out the latest in bargain books, there will be a field trip to Book Country Clearing House in suburban McKeesport, which stocks eight million remaindered books in a 500,000-square-foot facility.
Stops will range from the new Amazing Books & Records outlet—which opened earlier this month a few blocks from the David E. Lawrence Convention Center—to the venerable Penguin Bookshop, a 97-year-old literary hub in suburban Sewickley, 12 miles away from downtown.
Selling in the city
When Eric Ackland founded Amazing Books in 2013 to sell used books and records, he initially located it downtown, but in 2014, he moved east to Squirrel Hill. This past December, Ackland operated a holiday pop-up downtown that became permanent in early February. “They’re both big, beautiful spaces,” Ackland said. “There’s enough room for the books and records, and for our twice-weekly Book & Beer Night, you can have a free beer while you browse.” He’s not giving beer to the booksellers making a stop at either of the two stores, but he is offering coffee and hot chocolate, as well as 20% discounts.
Across the river from downtown, another used store, City Books, has been located in the Old Allegheny Historical District since 1984. Arlan Hess, its owner since 2015, says that she is welcoming booksellers by opening the store to them on a day when it is typically closed to customers, whom she describes as primarily a weekend “brunch and browse crowd.” While City Books is housed in a 600-square-foot retail space, its reach extends far beyond “the 412” area code, due to its 135,000 Tik Tok followers. “We’re better known outside Pittsburgh than inside,” maintains Hess.
Half a mile west, City of Asylum also has a reach that extends way beyond its physical space. More than simply a bookstore that specializes in works-in-translation, City of Asylum is a nonprofit organization providing sanctuary to endangered writers and other creatives. Bookstore manager Phoenix Tefel promises a memorable experience for the booksellers coming in on February 23: seven writers—from Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti, Egypt, and Algeria—currently in residence at City of Asylum have been invited to present their work.
East of downtown, in Bloomfield, White Whale Bookstore is celebrating its 10th anniversary. “We’re still here and we’re going to throw a big party this fall,” says co-owner Jill Yeomans, a former editor at Little Brown BYR. The store has doubled in size since 2016 and now is 3,500 square feet after adding a café in 2021. Yeomans promises that Winter Institute booksellers are going to get first dibs on “bookseller-specific merch” that will be up for sale.
In Regent Square, on the southeastern edge of the city limits, two educators opened Stay Gold Books in 2024, naming it after a line in S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. It’s a thoughtfully curated bookstore that carries 3,000 adult and children’s titles in a 600-square-foot space, says co-owner Corey Wittig: “We’re choosy, but not snobby.”
In the Burgh’s ’burbs
Riverstone Books, a general interest indie with a large children’s book department, bills itself as the metro area’s largest indie, “on a revenue basis and on a square foot basis,” says owner Barbara Jeremiah. There are approximately 5,500 square feet total in two locations, both of which are on the bookstore tours: the flagship store, founded in 2017, is located in the 135-acre McCandless Crossing shopping plaza 10 miles north of the city; the second location opened in Squirrel Hill in 2021. Jeremiah, who promises to offer WI2026 booksellers discounts, recalls the store being a stop on the Children’s Institute tour in 2019—and children's writer Jerry Pinckney stepping off the bus along with the booksellers. “Pretty hard to top that,” she said.
Northwest of the metro area, in Sewickley, Penguin Bookshop is marking 97 years in business. Noting that booksellers participating in these Winter Institute tours invariably want books and sidelines they can’t get elsewhere, Susan Hans O’Connor, who used to work for Penguin Press and bought the store in 2014, promises that “we will make sure our special swag is displayed and our regional section is fully stocked, including signed copies of books by local authors.”
South of Sewickley, along the Ohio River in Bellevue, Vintage Max was opened by Danielle Trenney in late 2024 in a 900-square-foot space. “I carry a little bit of everything,” she says of her inventory of new, used, vintage, and antique books and gifts. “We also teach art classes, book clubs meet here, and there’s open mic nights for music, poetry, and comedy.”
Farther south, to Carnegie, is Woolly Bear Books, which Mike Ploetz, who used to work for DK and Little Bee Books, opened in 2024 to sell books, as well as “educational and irreverent” gifts that celebrate nature and the environment. Ploetz will also allow booksellers to preview his second store, Tiger Moth Mercantile, opening down the street in late March. Tiger Moth will be more upscale, with a focus on the home that includes coffee table and lifestyle books. Ploetz will offer discounts for WI2026 booksellers, and he might hand out houseplants that he promises will be packaged for safe and easy transport.
Blythe Books in Brentwood, a used bookstore with a large selection of bestsellers and books by local authors, started out as an online bookstore, and switched to a brick-and-mortar model in January 2025. Owner Lizzie McCoy relates she sold books “sporadically” when she started out, but “buck-led down in 2024 and built a customer base.” She set her financial and business goals, “and we hit them as much as one can ask for.”
Mystery Lovers Bookstore in Oakmont, founded on Halloween 1990 to sell primarily mysteries but also books in other categories, was acquired by Kristy Bodner and Tara Goldberg-DeLeo in 2018. “We have a very loyal customer base,” Bodner says, “we still have customers who’ve shopped here since day one.” Bodner says that her staff is going to put together MLB totes containing local swag from neighborhood businesses for the booksellers. She’s also planning to offer treats from “a famous bakery in our neighborhood.”
After moving to Pittsburgh for her husband’s job, Adriene Rister opened Spark Books in Aspinwall in 2018 because she wanted to build community by creating, she says, “my own space for kids and their caregivers around a children’s bookstore.” The original space was 500 square feet, “but it grew and grew,” and is now 1500 square feet that includes an art studio. In fact, Rister says, she’s planning a “make and take” art project for WI2026 tour visitors. “They can do it here, or take it with them,” she said. “We try to create an experience for everybody who comes into this store.”
