The Indie Bob Spot: White Whale Bookstore

White Whale Bookstore, Pittsburgh, PA

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Readers, how many of you are fishing enthusiasts? How many of you are FRUSTRATED fishing enthusiasts? Tired of spending hours on end with little return on your effort? Nothing to show for your time other than a handful of nibbles and a few tiny blue gills? Well, have I got good news for you and I'm not even the slightest little bit of a fisherman. I just snagged the big catch. It was way too big for a hook and line and I used no bait but it was an easy catch. And it was huge. All I did was park on a side street, walk across to a corner location, and voilà, I captured the easily nabbed white whale. You can do it too. It doesn't even move, didn't put up a struggle, and didn't try to get away from me at all. This white whale will swallow you like Jonah and you won't even try to get out because this one is full of books. (This opening paragraph proves two things. I'm no Ernest Hemingway in more ways than one. I digress.)

Adlai and Jill are the husband/wife owners of the White Whale Bookstore in the Bloomfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh. They've been in business for about 2 1/2 years and purchased this business that was originally The East End Book Exchange. The focus of the previous business was used books but the White Whale offers mostly new books with some used also available. As Adlai told me, they're slowly transitioning to a mostly new book inventory. They've slowly built the book inventory over time and will continue to do so in the future as they hope to add an inside passage to a next door cafe business. This will bring a re-configuration of the interior allowing them to add more wall shelving and slowly phase out the used books. The store offers some locally created sidelines including candles, maps, and journals to name a few. But other than that, its mostly about the books here. Best of all, the store is starting to gain some recognition with publicists and publishers as a store for hosting events. They can host on-site or can hold ticketed events at larger venues as they did for Celeste Ng.

Adlai was great to meet and take time to tell me about the store and the business. I was happy to hear him tell me that things are going pretty well and they're starting to show some growth. In a town that has historically had a long used book store tradition, this is great to hear with White Whale's new books.

Ok, forget the bait, rod, and reel. This is an easy catch. Visit this fine indie and fake out your friends when you tell them your whale of a story! Go to an indie and buy a book. Bonsoir.

JUST FINISHED: Following Atticus, Tom Ryan. Tom Ryan is in a rut until he adopts a miniature schnauzer who slowly becomes his best friend. Atticus M. Finch is no ordinary dog and you have to read this to believe it. Tom and Atticus set out on an adventure to climb all the 4,000 ft peaks in New Hampshire. This one will pull at your heart-strings and also provide some good laughs. Dog-lovers will enjoy this one but there's more to this than a dog and a few mountains. The dog is unbelievable in this true story. I loved it. Highly recommended.

CURRENTLY READING: Educating Esmé: Diary Of A Teacher's First Year, Esmé Raji Codell.

A great corner location on a busy street.

Lots of indies put great messages on their sidewalk chalkboards.

One of the front display windows.

View looking into the beautiful store from the front entrance.

Looking to the right from the front entrance.

Display of popular and recent paperbacks to the left of the front entrance.

A sign that would be true in almost any independent bookstore.

A nice place to sit in the front of the store. Keep an eye on the busy sidewalk AND try out a book.

Table display of some of the staff picks.

A few more of the staff picks.

A very well-curated fiction section.

For a variety of sidelines, find this cabinet near the check-out counter.

I absolutely love this lego replica of the store front.

You can see amazing book art like this at White Whale and in other bookstores.

Partial view of the children's section.

Just a few of the books by local and regional authors.

A great seat for a little reader.

A long book aisle of used books. This is near the back of the store on the right.

A very cool tote bag that you'll need for all the books you're going to buy.

Overview of the store from the back looking toward the front entrance. Thorough readers might recognize the celebrity casually browsing in the center of the store. Yes, that's my mom.