The Writer's Workshop 
Third Place Books is building a new book store in Seattle’s Seward Park Neighborhood, which is a good thing for readers and writers, including students of The Writer’s Workshop and other Seattle Writing Classes. The new store is being built inside the former Puget Consumers Co-op building in Seward Park, and it will be the third in the Third Place Books chain. Owned by entrepreneur Ron Sher, who currently owns Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park and Third Place Books in Ravenna, the new store will demonstrate Sher’s idea that the best book stores build a community of readers and writers.
According to the Seattle Times, The store’s 7,000 square feet will house an espresso bar, a full restaurant called Raconteur (breakfast, lunch and dinner), a full bar downstairs, an event/reading space capable of accommodating up to 100 people, and books. Sindelar estimates it will stock 15,000 to 20,000 titles and 50,000 units (individual books). There will be a separate children’s department.
As with the other stores, the stock will consist of both used and new books — approximately 50 percent new, 50 percent used.
The renovation budget is about $1.4 million, Sindelar said.
The store’s most distinctive architectural feature is its arched roof, uncovered when the renovators knocked down the dropped ceiling and found both the ceiling and the original wood trusses. Now the interior ceiling is clad in beautiful overlapping wood, like a warm wood floor. Skylights let the light in.
The Third Place formula has become a template for these stores: books, food, community. “They are places people want to come and hang out in … they have become community centers,” Teicher said. “Certainly Ron helped pioneer that movement. I hope he believes that this is one of those cases where imitation is the best form of flattery.”
These stores provide an excellent venue for book readings, especially by regional authors. They also can serve as locations for a Seattle Writing Class.
For more: http://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/seward-park-meet-your-new-bookstore/
