Aimee Luna has packed a lot into a small space.
Her new book store in the Olde Towne Plaza at 13709 Ranch Road 12 is only about 200 square feet but is stocked with more than 3,000 nicely organized books — and more are on the way.
The Rustic Moon Book Shop — Aimee calls it her “book shed” — opened last October. Aimee is a novice book seller and has “reorganized things from front to back, at least, three times.”
The result is a cozy little shop nestled in the back of the rustic plaza.
“This has been a lifelong dream, just to be around books all day,” says Aimee, who still manages to read three or so books a week.
Aimee prepped for opening her shop by setting up at Wimberley Market Days. She rented a booth there and dutifully lugged 25 heavy boxes of books on the first Saturday of every month. “We had a cute little rustic booth there,” says Aimee. “It was just perfect for the theme I was trying to get.”
When the little store in Olde Towne Plaza became available Aimee jumped at the opportunity. With a little help from her family — “My kids are all avid readers,” she points out. — the shop started to take shape, cleaning, building shelves and moving in used books.
She had collected books from all over. She picks them up at estate sales and thrift stores and gets donations.
“This is my little shed,” she says, “and I can do anything I want. Now that I have a pretty good flow going, it’s just wonderful.”
Adds Aimee: “We try to have a little something for everybody.”
Her books are reasonably priced with hardbacks at $5, large-sized paperbacks at $3 and mass-market paperbacks a buck. There are sales now and then. The books are neatly categorized into subjects such as thrillers/mystery, biography/memoirs and self help. There are sections aimed at care givers and aspiring writers.
Book sales stable
Sales of books in the United States have remained relatively stable over the years. Despite distractions such as cable TV, video games and social media, books sales — both printed and electronic books — actually increased in 2020, according to Publisher’s Weekly. In 2020, some 942 million books were sold, that’s an eight percent jump over 2019. Because many book shops were closed during the pandemic, sales of e-books increased more than 12 percent.
The Association of American Authors reports that overall book sales in the United States topped $25 billion with a drop in textbooks sales because of school closures, but sizable increases in both fiction and non-fiction categories.
Despite solid book sales, the number of bookstores in the U.S. has steadily dropped — from 12,000 in 1998 to a little more than 6,000 in 2019, according to the Census Bureau. The bureau has figured out there is one book store for every 54,299 Americans. Texas has one book shop for every 74,000 residents.
The No. 1 way to buy a book is at a bookstore, but Internet sales and mail order are catching up. Many book shops have added a variety of other services and products — like coffee shops — to attract customers.
Her shop will always be evolving, promises Aimee. “It’s important to observe people in the store and listen to their comments and questions,” she says.
Author events
There will likely be a book-exchange program started at some point and she already has a number of meet-the-author events planned this month including Leslie Woods, who writes children’s books, and Grace Draven, who pens fantasy and romance novels. Aimee also hosts a Writer’s Life Book Club that examines how writer’s operate.
Early on, most of the traffic came from tourists who strolled down 12 and spotted her outdoor displays. Although, more and more locals are discovering the shop. “I have had a really good response for just being a little used book shop,” says Aimee. “The local traffic has been wonderful.”
Aimee’s best selling categories are biographies and books about writing.
She often finds boxes of books left at her doorstep. “Donations are a godsend,” says Aimee.
Aimee drives in every day from her home in Spring Branch. “I have been in love with Wimberley since I was 20,” she says.
Aimee will be spending a lot of time here. Her current store hours are Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and from 10 a.m to 5 p.m. on weekends.
You can keep up with events at Rustic Moon Bookshop Facebook page or call 512-629-0065 for more information.
Says Aimee: “I’m striving to be a community bookshop. My biggest goal is to work with the community.”
