Stone Soup Books is officially open at its new Downtown Waynesboro location, marking the fourth chapter in its nearly two-decade history.
The independent bookseller opened its doors at 10 a.m. today, finally positioning itself in the heart of downtown at 402 W. Main St.
Now known as Stone Soup Books Downtown, the business is marking 19 years of serving book lovers in the Shenandoah Valley and worldwide.
“I think it’s kind of amazing that every chapter, every evolution, has just been so full of fruit, and it’ll be our 19th year this year, and here we are, finally, finally, in the real traditional Downtown Waynesboro, and I just have to do my little dance of celebration,” said Mary Katharine Froehlich, founder of the indie bookstore.
The downtown storefront has a chalk sandwich board outside today with the message “we are open.”
Inside, the design includes beautiful murals on the wall from local artists and blown-up historical images, with decor including a rustic picnic table, and of course, a more expansive book collection.
While most people think of Froehlich as the heartbeat of the bookstore, she brought on a partner in February, a self-described military spouse and English teacher who retired in Waynesboro.
Janie Rambo met Froehlich at church, and their love of books connected the two almost instantly.
When Froehlich needed some help at her Race Avenue store, Rambo volunteered her daughter to work there, and later, Rambo took her daughter’s place.
“She hasn’t kicked me out yet,” Rambo said. “That [the partnership] just evolved, and we work well together. Sometimes we’re complete opposite thinkers, and sometimes we finish each other’s sentences. It just depends on the day.”
The four chapters in Stone Soup Books’ history to date include the first location at 908 W. Main St. that operated from 2006 to 2014 with a restaurant component. The second chapter, Froehlich said, she considers the “underground” years where she operated online until 2020. Chapter three took Stone Soup Books to 150 Race Ave. on the South River, which opened in 2021, and offered just under 500 square feet of retail space.
The new space on Main Street tripled their retail space with 1,500 square feet and and offers 1,000 square feet of space for processing and shipping online orders, which make up approximately 15 percent over their overall revenue.
The Main Street commercial location has housed an assortment of businesses over the years: everything from a shoe store to a barber shop.
“When we opened in 2006, there were no other bookstores in Waynesboro, and we tried to provide the inventory that we could for the community,” Froehlich told AFP. “Race Avenue was an incredible space for really incubating, you know, during the pandemic, and saying, hey, we are here for you.
“We noticed that we needed to trend more toward growth and provide a lot more for the community.”
Excited to start the next chapter on Main Street
Rambo called the effort to open on Main Street a true “family and community effort.”
“There was a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears put in this, mostly by volunteers,” she said.
“We had a lot more to offer than what our space could provide,” she said. “Not only with inventory, but the gathering space, events, author services, Writer’s Well workshops that we collaborate on, and so that’s why we really started on this path almost a year ago, thinking and planning, talking and dreaming …”
The duo agreed that seeing the growth of the downtown area really pushed them to locate there.
“I can see the effort that the merchants are putting into downtown to build it up, to get the word out about how wonderful Downtown Waynesboro is, to make the effort to get the tourism and the hikers here, and I think the effort is really paying off,” Rambo said. “They’ve been very welcoming and encouraging. We’ve been getting a lot of support from the fellow merchants, and it’s just really, it’s just a great community to be a part of, and I’m very excited to start this next chapter here, especially with Mary Katharine.”
Book selling requires a lot of revenue sources to make it work, including mobile bookselling, conference bookselling, pop-ups, bookselling for groups including curating collections for a spiritual retreat or whatever. Stone Soup also sells through online platforms including Amazon and Biblio.
Froehlich said that the backbone of their business has been supporting authors and the writing community as a whole.
“Whether they’re writing for their grandchildren so they can have a record of that, or they want to become the next number one New York Times bestseller, we believe we have those people in the Valley, and that story is here. Bringing that story out is really critical, and sometimes in the publishing world, it’s a nightmare for somebody to kind of go through on their own. Just having somebody to consult with you, hold your hand through that process and determine what it is you wish to achieve as an author of a book is really kind of an important service.”
Froehlich said they also try to prevent authors from paying enormous amounts of money to print and market a book.
“I’ve seen a ton of great stories, in non-fiction and fiction, that have been destroyed by the process it went through to get into print,” she said.
As indie bookseller, owners can stock and sell anything
Planting roots and investing in a bigger space allows the indie bookseller the ability to stock whatever books they want, and the community wants, without censorship, allowing everyone’s story to be told.
“It’s good to have what we have with so many other things happening in the world, we’ve got to have a good story, and it helps connect us and understand and learn more,” Froehlich said.
Libraries across the country are under pressure to restrict books that promote certain ideologies or restrict access to information that might be seen as inappropriate or with sexually explicit content. Some of the books banned in school libraries explored critical race theory, queerness or youth suicide. Since 2020, Virginia schools have banned more than 220 library books, including some from award-winning authors. The Augusta County Board of Supervisors also recently cancelled a LGBTQ event planned at its public library at the last hour, despite months of planning.
“In a time right now, whether it’s statewide, nationally or globally, even at a time when there are people that are trying to set their own guidelines as to what people should be reading and learning and thinking even, and how federal dollars, state dollars, are being spent to encourage that,” Rambo said.
“Censorship,” Froehlich interjected.
“It is censorship in some ways, but the way they’re using the money to push their own agendas, being a small business, we can stock and sell anything we want,” Rambo said.
“So we are doing our best to make sure that our inventory is diverse culturally, and that everyone who comes through our door is welcome, feels welcome and leaves here knowing they can come back and that this is a place that they belong.
“That’s something that I want people from Waynesboro, Augusta County, Nelson County, all over, and even our hikers and our travelers that come through, to always feel.”
Stone Soup Books Downtown is open Wednesday-Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 402 W. Main St. in Downtown Waynesboro. There are plans to extend the hours later this summer.
Stone Soup Books Downtown: A peek inside
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Crystal Graham
