Sera Petras Photography
McLaughlin says indie bookstores have been on the rise for about a decade because they’re filling a need in the community. “It’s not just about selling a product, it’s about community and connection,” she says. “We’re creating a gathering place for anyone seeking connection through stories.”
The Bookshelf on Church really did start out as one shelf. Back in late 2022, owner Lisa McLaughlin originally created a petite pop-up bookshelf inside The Local in Irvington, with a goal of bringing book culture to the community through regularly scheduled book clubs and author events. In 2024, her business—and its name—expanded when she took over half the former Book Nook space on West Church Street in Kilmarnock. Last April, she moved just up West Church into a recently renovated retail space with more room, more sunlight and more potential for the future.
The move doubled her square footage, and her team has grown to five staffers. “We’ve got so much more natural light now and, yes, we’re closer to Main Street, but it was mainly a need for more space,” McLaughlin says from the relaxed lounge area in the rear of the store. “We do a lot of events, and we needed more space to hold everyone.”
Book clubs meet every month, and readers can take their pick from groups that focus on romance, fantasy (“a dedicated group,” McLaughlin says) or literary fiction, affectionately known as LitFic. There’s a club for Banned Books and an LGBTQ+ book club where all are welcome, focusing on books by or about queer characters.
Four times a year, The Bookshelf on Church hosts “Booked for Dinner,” a potluck supper club that reliably sells out. A cookbook is chosen and the evening’s ticket price gets you the cookbook in advance and attendance at the supper club. Tickets are purchased on The Bookshelf’s website, where each guest signs up to bring a different dish from the cookbook. “It’s always on a Saturday and we cap attendance at 25 people,” McLaughlin says. “We set a beautiful table with candles, discuss cooking techniques and everyone leaves with a new friend.”
Sera Petras Photography
Bringing the community together for all kinds of reasons underpins every event The Bookshelf on Church plans. Their annual Pride Party on June 20 features an open mic stage, music and food while benefiting the Health Brigade, a healthcare nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ causes. For each $10 donated that night, customers receive a raffle ticket. “People have thanked us for being a safe space, which is why we have a rainbow flag outside,” McLaughlin says. “Being that space is really important to us from a values perspective.”
January’s Death Café also drew an all-ages full house. McLaughlin invited a death doula from D.C. to facilitate a conversation about death and dying, allowing a space for people to destigmatize and talk about a tough subject. “It was a way to help people process and even fall apart if they needed to, without any judgment” she says. “We’re planning to do another one in the fall.”
Amazon and Barnes & Noble aside, McLaughlin says indie bookstores have been on the rise for about a decade because they’re filling a need in the community. “It’s not just about selling a product, it’s about community and connection,” she says. “We’re creating a gathering place for anyone seeking connection through stories.”
Sera Petras Photography
The Bookshelf on Church features a robust children’s section filled with thoughtfully curated, age-appropriate books, toys, and games designed to inspire young readers. Beyond the shelves, the bookstore is deeply committed to giving back, proudly leading ongoing campaigns throughout the year to help place books into the hands of children and families who may otherwise go without.
As part of their outreach, The Bookshelf on Church partners with the Appalachian Prison Book Project’s (APBP) mission to get books to prisons in Appalachia. Supporters are invited to purchase a book from APBP’s book wish list on the store’s Bookshop.org page or make a financial donation. They also support a variety of community efforts to get books to kids in the community via similar methods.
To that end, McLaughlin launched a fundraising drive to buy books to send to children in Ukraine whose schools have been obliterated. “We can use our professional discounts to purchase new books for them,” she says. “It’s a way to make an impact on the younger generation with books.”
Sera Petras Photography
One way to support the store is by joining their membership program, dubbed the Fan Club. Memberships start at $5 a month and go to $500 monthly, and each offers a different level of benefits from priority registration for events, to store discounts, to custom swag, to free ARCs—that’s Advance Reading Copies—each month. “It’s fun for me to see what our Fan Club members want to read,” she says. “And it’s very cool to have an audience outside our immediate area.”
That wider audience continues to grow with events such as the April author talk with Rolling Stone writer and Brooklyn resident Jonathan Bernstein on his book “What Do You Do When You’re Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle.” It was just the kind of event indie bookstores do so well.
When McLaughlin moved to the Northern Neck in 2020, one thing she knew for sure was that she couldn’t live anywhere without a bookstore. Naysayers insisted she’d make no money at it.
Five years later, after listening to the community about what they like to read, attend and discuss, she’s been able to grow as a person through her business. “I put my idea out there and I’ve been rewarded with a great team and been able to affect the community through our mission,” she says. “I love to hear customers’ stories about how they experienced a book. We’re a third space where people can learn and maybe even change their mind about things.”
The Bookshelf on Church | 28 W. Church Street, Kilmarnock | 804-875-1220 | bookshelfonchurch.com
