Take me down to the Lake City, where the walls are blue and the girls are pretty

Last weekend I went to the Lake City Books grand opening at their new digs with my ladyfriend who is a big fan of the store. The move wasn't far - just across the Square - but the new space is much larger and, in the grand Wisconsin tradition, has a bar.

The place was hoppin' when we got there. The staff were busier than a one-eyed man at a burlesque show as folks perused the shelves in a search for their next read. There were quite a few families there with parents ushering their young ones towards the children's section as well as lots of people standing around chatting.

I liked the blue color scheme and the limnological decorations.

I was hoping for more space dedicated to books (I adored Shakespeare's Books back in the day with its towering shelves and enough barely lit aisles to get lost in a la the scriptorium in The Name of the Rose) but the rather tiny non-fiction section yields more space for sitting & reading on couches and socializing and, I guess you could say, for people to make it their third space. And I am told the expanded space with make author events easier on a number of fronts. Speaking of socializing, the bar looked like a typical Friday night at any local tavern.

The crowd was on the younger side - 30s mostly it seemed, so the rumors of reading's death are perhaps greatly exaggerated.

I walked out with a copy of The Tainted Cup.

Godspeed to Lake City. They also have a nice sticker selection. Almost forgot to note that.