Happy Holidays to all yinz, and welcome to the 12 Days of Indies! My name is Joy Givens, and I’m here to make your December merry and bright by highlighting one of Pittsburgh’s fabulous independent bookstores each day, December 1-12. Keep reading to learn all about today’s featured bookstore, and check back daily for new store profiles, fun tidbits, ordering information, and more!
Day 8
The eighth day of indies takes us to a sharp-looking storefront on Liberty Avenue in historic Bloomfield: White Whale Bookstore! Owners Adlai and Jill Yeomans set sail with this beautiful shop in October 2016, and it has quickly become a community hub for events and socializing as well as literature. The pandemic may have nixed in-person events, but White Whale has adapted with a fantastic slate of virtual events, including poetry readings and book launches.
White Whale Bookstore is staffed exclusively by bibliophiles, and it shows. Both the in-store stock, which you can browse seven days a week with COVID precautions (masks, hand sanitizer, social distancing), and the staff picks online show thoughtful, expert consideration. At White Whale, they will not only recommend books, but also tell you all the juicy details! Be prepared to go in for one book and come out with three.
If you prefer to shop online, you can browse White Whale’s ready-to-ship stock, request books for pickup or delivery, order gift cards and other merchandise, and more. The site is chock-full of recommendations for holiday gifts, including staff-selected book bundles (at 10 percent off retail) and a “Blind Date with a Book” option. White Whale also offers signed copies of many books.
Whether you shop online or in person, you’ll certainly find that White Whale Bookstore is a place for book lovers—no wonder it was voted Pittsburgh City Paper’s 2020 Best Local Bookstore!
STORE DETAILS
White Whale Bookstore
4754 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224
(412) 224-2847
Current Store Hours: Sun-Thu 12:00-5:00 p.m., Fri-Sat 11:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
https://whitewhalebookstore.com/
https://twitter.com/whitewhalebks
https://www.instagram.com/whitewhalebks/
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteWhaleBks/
Joy Givens is a pun-slinging, hymn-singing storyteller and the lucky mother of two small superheroes. She has published several award-winning short stories and writes children’s and YA fiction to celebrate the fresh, fierce, fantastic side of life. Raised in a big Midwestern family, Joy now lives in the blossoming literary community of Pittsburgh, where she is a proud leadership team member of Pennwriters (www.pennwriters.org) and the PA West region of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (www.wpa.scbwi.org).
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