Imagine 32 rooms of books in a labyrinthine old building, open to early birds and night owls alike, with discounted books to boot. A bookworm’s pipe dream? Shockingly, no. This place is real, and it’s located in Columbus, Ohio.
With its inviting cobblestone-lined garden walk, thoughtfully curated displays and passionate booksellers, the Book Loft of German Village is a haven for local patrons and artists.
The Book Loft’s 32 rooms hold hundreds of thousands of books — but they also carry on a unique legacy. John Clark, a historian, writer and journalist, details the store’s past in his book, “German Village Stories Behind The Bricks.”
According to Clark, The Book Loft began in the early 1970s in a streetcar barn turned mini-mall called the Old World Bazaar at 555 City Park Avenue. Eventually, owners Carl Jacobsma and Roger Tompkins moved on and started the Village Owl, which ran for several years.
They then reestablished The Book Loft in its current location, another mini-mall called Marianplatz, which stretched across two buildings: 632 City Park Avenue and 631 S. 3rd Street. The owner of the shopping center, Marian “Marnie” Southard, connected them and rented out the connector between the buildings and the two rooms above it to Tompkins and Jacobsma in 1977.
The Book Loft’s location has been a bastion of independent business since the 19th century.
632 City Park Avenue started in the late 1800s as a tavern, then became a saloon, then a series of grocery stores, before Southard started her mini-mall. 631 S. 3rd Street followed a quirkier trajectory.
“It was a toy shop and a toy factory and a doll hospital and an indoor golf school and an art colony and a flower shop,” Clark said. “Some people have said it used to be a church. I’ve never found that in print, but it wouldn’t surprise me a bit.”
Like the businesses that came before it, The Book Loft’s early days were not without challenges. The Marianplatz’s novelty could not hide the building’s deterioration.
“There was a little apartment of a place that this guy was renting [in the Marianplatz], and to keep warm, he would pull up floorboards from the apartment floor and toss them on the pile,” Clark said. “That’s how bad it was.”
The Book Loft persisted nonetheless. In 1981, Russell Iler started working at the store, eventually becoming manager and buying into the business in 1985. He became co-owner along with Jacobsma and Tompkins.
“The store was much smaller back then,” Iler said. “I believe it maybe had nine rooms when I started. Now [it] has 32.”
Tompkins passed away in 2012, but Iler and Jacobsma still run the store today.
Over the years, The Book Loft has expanded eight times, renting more and more rooms and ultimately occupying the entirety of the two buildings by the early 1990s. Each expansion created more avenues for serving local customers and their varied tastes.
In 2021, The Book Loft took another step to ensure their longevity. Columbus investor Jared Jablonka, a long-time patron of the Book Loft, bought the building along with Iler and Jacobsma.
Iler said that even after buying the building, he didn’t feel that much had to change.
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” he said.
Despite modern pressures to rebrand and digitize, Iler said that he wants to continue to focus on the in-person experience.
“We’re very unique,” Iler said. “Unique shopping experience, unique book selection.”
The Book Loft’s book-lined passageways and nooks are filled with new stock that rotates constantly. Although these books are new, they are all discounted at various percentages.
Clark added that The Book Loft’s uniqueness stems from the passion of its booksellers.
“Just about anybody could go work at a Barnes & Noble, but I think to work in a place like [the Book Loft], you have to love what you’re doing and be so much into it that you can really connect with people,” Clark said.
The Book Loft prioritizes its authors just as much as its customers.
Darren Demaree has frequented the Book Loft since he was a kid. Now, he hosts events there promoting his poetry.
“Book launches and readings, sometimes it can be small crowds,” Demaree said. “I’ve never had that experience at The Book Loft. People always show up, and they treat you great and promote you, and they’re excited every time you come in.”
Attending readings at The Book Loft is a common habit among the Columbus writing community.
“Columbus has Hanif Abdurraqib and Maggie Smith, and all these … truly brilliant people,” he said. “They’re showing up to those, too.”
The Book Loft also integrates themselves directly into the community, collaborating with festivals and businesses all around Columbus.
Author Andrew Welsh-Huggins’s first professional experience with the Book Loft was when they sold his book, “No Winners Here Tonight,” at the Ohioana Book Festival in the late 2000s. Over a decade later, his books sell nationally at chain stores like Barnes & Noble, but Welsh-Huggins still maintains a relationship with the Book Loft.
When Welsh-Huggins launched a book series, he hosted several events at different spaces in Columbus, such as Thunder Wing Brewing and Katzinger’s Deli. The Book Loft was the bookseller for both.
“They are a very author-centric bookstore, which I really appreciate,” Welsh-Huggins said.
For Demaree, the Book Loft’s care for its authors goes beyond hosting events.
“It’s sort of a constant support,” he said. “If you come in and they clock you and they see you, they’d be like, ‘Hey, you got time to sign some books and hang out?’ or, ‘How are you doing? What are you working on next?’”
The Book Loft reflects what independent bookstores are known for: curating books, organizing events and supporting local authors.
“We’ve lost a lot of public spaces in this country over the last 50 years, and independent bookstores provide an arena or a location for like-minded people to come together and share their love of books, to share ideas, to debate,” Welsh-Huggins said.
He also noted that the number of independent bookstores in central Ohio has actually grown in the past few years.
This trend in Columbus reflects a national one: the American Booksellers Association’s 2024 report showed a 31% increase in bookstore openings and a 61% decrease in closings.
The Book Loft started in a completely different age of media, but it is thriving with the same business model it has had since the beginning.
Its near 50-year legacy is no small feat: most places have a novelty bookstore or two, but The Book Loft includes its authors and patrons in its history. It is a space where readers can get lost in the stories of authors new and old. It is a meeting place for discussion and inspiration. It helps foster a literary scene that makes authors want to stick around.
Even though Welsh-Huggins’s books have achieved national acclaim, he chooses to stay in Columbus.
Demaree feels similarly.
“I love it so much that it makes me furious,” he said. “I’m not going away and I’m not gonna blink. And so far, Ohio hasn’t blinked either.”
In a changing cultural landscape, places like the Book Loft cultivate hope in the places they inhabit.
“It’s gonna feed you differently to be in an independent bookstore,” Demaree said. “I think what it does to a community, it’s tough to quantify.”
