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Check out The York Emporium’s Facebook page HERE
We are 6 months into the year 2022 and I’m only now sitting down to write about my trip to The York Emporium.
So, let’s start with a little backstory on how this phase of life came to be. I had been wanting to join TikTok so I could dive into the BookTok community for MONTHS, but kept putting it off and putting it off because once upon a time, I was on Vine and spent a billion hours of my life scrolling and I just knew it would become an obsession. Spoiler alert: I joined and I am obsessed.
Finally, in December of 2021, I joined TikTok and it has since changed my life forever. But around that same time, I had an idea that I wanted to start a YouTube channel where I traveled to one new independent bookstore a month and film for said channel.
I did have a real life book bestie, my one and only. Her name is Pam and if you’ve arrived here from BookTok, you’ve already heard of Book Bestie Pam. But I shot my idea to Pam, asked her if she’d film stores with me, she said YES and so the journey began.
I sat down, googled indie bookstores in surrounding areas, and decided to start emailing them. Initially, I didn’t hear back from a single store I emailed, and then I had a day scheduled to go visit my brother and his girlfriend who live in York County, so we searched for a bookstore in that area, found The York Emporium, and I messaged the owner via their Facebook page and got the green light to film! I cannot even tell you how over the moon excited I was over this. Our first-ever bookstore filming!
I also have anxiety, though, so my day trip to my brothers was basically a scope-out day and then the plan was to go film on that coming Saturday with Pam. We ended up at THE MOST BEAUTIFUL USED BOOKSTORE IN EXISTENCE. Ya girl is a big fan of this store, okay? Maybe it holds a near and dear spot in my heart because they were the first place to allow me to come film, but it truly is a masterpiece of a bookstore.
You can check out my first ever bookstore vlog and The York Emporium video on YouTube below.
After scoping it out with my brother and his girlfriend, I was even more excited to sprint back there with Pam to film.
Let me paint the scene of this store in my own words, okay?
You can watch the video, you can look at the pictures, you can read my words, but nothing will compare to visiting this store in real life. So promise me if you ever make your way to York, PA, or surrounding areas, you will make sure you visit The York Emporium.
First, parking is very important to me. I am possibly the worst driver known to man. I cannot parallel park, merging makes me break out in hives, and I’m just generally a chaotic driver. That being said, The York Emporium has a very nice parking lot which already is a perk in my book. Off-street parking already had me perked up and ready to book shop!
LOOK HOW CUTE AND ABSOLUTELY PERFECT IT IS!!! I cannot wait to go back!
When you walk in, your senses are immediately accosted by that signature bookstore smell, greeted by the sweetest bookshop owner, (His name is Jim and he’s so nice), and your eyeballs are OVERWHELMED by the pure gloriousness which is The York Emporium.
I want to mention that sometimes I do find used bookstores to be overwhelming but The York Emporium, despite its large size as far as bookstores go, was so well organized that I did not find it too overwhelming at all. I actually could’ve spent hours upon hours browsing their selection.
The store is well taken care of, very clean, very organized, and has literally something for every human. You’d be hard-pressed to convince me otherwise.
There were so many sections from horror, romance, kids, sports, politics, etc. I could go on and on about how much was in this store. Truly amazing.
YouTube flagged my initial video for copyright infringement when I left the music that was playing throughout the store on my video, so unfortunately I did have to remove it, but the whole vibe of the site is just pure bookstore perfection. I cannot stress enough that every book lover needs to run there.
Are you sick of me saying how amazing this store is yet? Because I truly cannot convey how perfect of a bookstore this place is. Nothing I’ve created about it does it justice in my eyes. My TikTok, my YouTube, this blog, nothing is doing is justice and I just need everyone to go there!
I wish I had asked how many books they had in store now that I think of it.
They even had book grab bags! How freakin’ fun is that?! I love that bookstores are starting to do mystery grab bags and mystery book dates.
This place is so aesthetically pleasing and should be on every book influencer’s bookstore bucket list! I forgot about this picture of myself and I immediately need to print it out because it’s amazing.
I love this bookstore so much, and if you’ve been reading along, you’re well aware. It was such a perfect kick-off to my YouTube channel bookstore vlog series and a perfect kick-off to my head-first dive into the online book community.
Again, make sure if you are in the area or ever find yourself in Pennsylvania, make sure you stop in at The York Emporium. It will not disappoint.
I will be heading back to The York Emporium for sure in 2023 so I can refilm for my YouTube channel. It deserves more hype for sure.
I’d love to be besties on Instagram and TikTok! @stephlivesinpages on both platforms! And if you’re on YouTube, I’d love it if you’d check me out over there, also StephLivesInPages!
What’s your favorite indie bookstore?? Let me know in the comments.
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