New bookstore coming to downtown Dover
Dave Jones is sorting inventory in preparation for the opening of The Bibliophile on March 13.
Dave Jones calls the books on his shelves “potential stories, potential knowledge,” just waiting to be picked up and enjoyed. A lifelong lover of books along with his family, Jones is preparing to open a new bookstore in downtown Dover on March 13 at 10 a.m. The Bibliophile: For the Love of Books has been in the planning stages for at least two years.
“We love books, and we would sometimes say, ‘Oh, it would be fun to open a bookstore someday.’ We realized we had way more books than we could ever read, and then we went to an auction and ended up coming home with 1,500 or 2,000 books, and we had the beginnings of a real inventory.”
Jones visited estate sales and amassed so many books the house he shared with his family was becoming overrun.
The perfect space for a bookstore at 241 W. Third St. in Dover became available this year. “We wanted to be right here on Third downtown,” Jones said. “We kept saying we were just waiting for the right space to open up to get going, so it was time to actually commit. In many senses it was a dream that just became more and more of a reality.”
Jones and his parents, David and Debra Jones, are originally from Pennsylvania and moved to the area a few years ago.
The Bibliophile will focus on used volumes with the ability to order new publications as well. The selection of used books that will be available at The Bibliophile covers just about every genre.
“We have pretty much every category covered, except for westerns, which for some reason just haven’t turned up that often,” Jones said.
There are cookbooks, biographies, fiction and nonfiction, covering a broad spectrum for book lovers.
The new store will feature a children’s area with a table and chairs and welcome seating for patrons.
“We are pleased to be next to Magic Mugs and have good relationships with all three downtown coffee shops,” Jones said. “We did a pop-up sale at Sugarfuse recently that went very well. We will be creating some cross promotions and events as we go along. Once things settle down with the pandemic, we would like to offer Friday night board game nights and things like that.”
Shelves are slowly being constructed and filled with inventory in the lead-up to opening day. The whole family has been involved in preparing for the store opening.
The elder David Jones said the family is excited to bring the culture of books and reading to the downtown in a new store. “We used to read to our children,” he said, “and now they’re reading to their children. It’s a good thing to excite people about books and reading.”
"It’s the potential," Dave Jones said. "I started to catalog the books I owned, and I reached a point where I realized that even if I read 100 books a year for the rest of my life, that wouldn’t make a dent in the number of books I have. The store is kind of an outlet for that. There was a time when I didn’t ever want to let go of a book. Then I thought that if I had a book that someone wanted perhaps more than I do, I could pass that book along to them and make them happy. When you look at a bookshelf, all those books are just potential for the reader. I might not read it today, or ever, but I can, and it’s just there waiting for me."
Find updates on the store’s Facebook page.