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Another day, another belated and overdue bookstore travel blog. If you want to read a little more about how we got started on this journey, check out the York Emporium blog post. It tells the story of how this all came to be.
I reached out to the sweet owner of The Crooked Shelf and she gave us the green light to come film! Again, so excited. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over being thrilled to film bookstores. It’s an actual dream to go see all these great shops, meet the owners, and see all the bookstores.
Kelly, the owner of The Crooked Shelf, told me that the inspo for her bookstore’s name came from the book Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, so I immediately ran to the library to grab it and read it before we visited.
Quick little thoughts on the book: LOVED. It was such a sweet story. This bookstore 1000000000000% does its namesake justice and even the small town it’s situated in is very on-brand for Mercy Falls. I want to go back in the winter and get a peppermint hot chocolate at the local coffee shop and walk to the bookstore. UGH.
Book Bestie Pam and I traveled to the absolute cutest town, ever. Lewistown, Pa is literal the epitome of small-town America and gives off big Stars Hollow energy. Complete with cute town functions and traditions.
I mentioned in my previous bookstore blog that parking is a very important factor in my anxious life, and while the parking for The Crooked Shelf was on-street parking, there were parking spots and it wasn’t parallel parking situations. A+ in my book.
This store is what Pam deemed “The Scholastic Book Fair for Adults” and she was spot on. This store is so perfectly laid out, feels so warm and inviting, and has just the right amount of everything sprinkled throughout. There was so many fun, unique items in this store that I had never seen before, and watching my own video footage had me wanting to go back and purchase the things I left behind.
Personally, I love a good kids section, and The Crooked Shelf had a truly phenomenal kids section and I cannot wait to take my son back so he can choose some books.
I also just need to point out that this was my FIRST EVER Zodiac Academy in the wild sighting and I am still so thrilled, happy, and just over the top excited about it. I hadn’t even seen it in a Barnes and Noble at this point, so this truly made my whole year.
If you are new here and don’t already know this, Zodiac Academy is my whole heart, my whole life, and my forever hyperfixation and I will live and die on the hill that Darius Acrux’s character development is the best ever written. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Some of the many things I love about this particular bookstore are the easy flow of the layout, the perfect variety of books and merchandise without it being overwhelming, the cozy vibes of the decor, and the love you can absolutely tell is put into this store by the owner.
If this bookstore was closer to me, I’d be a weekly visitor, FOR SURE. So maybe we should be glad I live over an hour away hahaha.
Some items I personally am wishing I would’ve gotten were a crocheted octopus. Tell me why I haven’t stopped thinking about these since I was there in February. They are so freakin’ cute! Also, there were some bookish puzzles I wish I would’ve come home with, and don’t even get me started on the perfect book selection. You can see mine, as well as Pam’s, Crooked Shelf book hauls in the YouTube videos.
Included in the cozy vibes is a little seating area where there are games and puzzles to be played, and there is also a very cute and unique selection of puzzles that can be bought. I cannot stress enough the unique selection this adorable store has.
I also love when a bookstore features local authors and The Crooked Shelf has a designated area where they display and feature local authors and other local things. This is how we learned about Goose Day, which is in September and I cannot wait to go crash their Goose Day festivities. I’ve never had goose, but one of the flyers I read mentioned Goose Pizza, so color me intrigued. I’ve gotta go try something.
I’m actually obsessed with this town. When I posted my YouTube videos it was glaringly obvious to me the small town vibes and community aspect of Lewistown because so many locals came through to watch and support their local bookstore. It was heartwarming and I was fortunate to be able to talk to some proud Lewistown natives. They actually are so kind and even told me to feel free to crash their Goose Day….cannot wait.
I even made so many mistakes in my first YouTube video of the shop and they were so gracious with all my blunders.
After we finally headed out of the store, we took a trip down the road to check out the local coffee shop, East End Coffee Co, and it was so cute! When I head back in the winter to recreate my Shiver dreams, I’m hoping they have a peppermint hot chocolate option available.
We didn’t grab any coffees this trip though because we were starving, so we headed back out onto the sidewalk to check out the restaurants we had passed. We ended up eating at the counter of an absolutely adorable little food spot and it was so good! I’m bummed I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but if you visit The Crooked Shelf, the place we ate literally had the word ‘Restaurant’ in huge black letters on the side of the building.
If you are in Pennsylvania or will be traveling to PA within the near future, I would 100% recommend stopping by Lewistown and making sure you spend an hour or two browsing the amazing selection that is available at The Crooked Shelf.
Also, make sure you are following them on Facebook and Instagram
If you’re one of the sweet locals from this town, HI SWEET ANGEL. I cannot wait to visit you all again.
Everyone else, tell me, when will you be traveling to The Crooked Shelf? Because I’m telling you right now you don’t want to miss it. Yet another home run, must-see book store that I am so honored to have been able to film at.
