St. Cloud Business Honored on Independent Bookstore Day [PHOTOS]

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A St. Cloud business was feeling the love at an event to support local bookstores this weekend.

A downtown staple since the 1990s, Books Revisited celebrated the 10th annual Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday. The event was started back in 2014 by the American Booksellers Association as a way to celebrate reading and small business.

Owner Jon Lee says the event is also a way for the store to thank the community for their support.

We love our customers. They're the reason we're here. They come out and support us today, but it's really their support every day that makes the difference.

To celebrate, Books Revisited offered 20 percent off all items in the store, all-day refreshments, and book signings by Minnesota mystery writers Jess Lourey and Jessie Chandler.

Lourey and Chandler both attended St. Cloud State University and have published more than 30 books combined.

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Lourey’s latest novel, “Quarry Girls” is set entirely in St. Cloud in the 1970s. She grew up in Paynesville and says the story is inspired by several true crime events that took place during her childhood.

It features Heather Cash who is 15-years-old in 1977. She's in that period of her life where her friends have grown up before she has, and she's kind of wondering if she should do the things that they're doing so she can feel like she belongs. She's struggling with very normal teenage midwestern 70s and 80s experiences. But meanwhile, it turns out there is a serial killer in her neighborhood, so she has that on top of everything else.

The book is one of five finalists up for the 2023 Minnesota Book Award in Genre Fiction. The winners of the awards will be announced on May 2nd.

Books Revisited first opened in St. Cloud in 1991 and has occupied its current space since 1998.