The Greater Charlotte Book Crawl is in full swing, and it’s not just about books
Jay Natale is no stranger to the quest. For the past three years, the paladin has answered the call, taking on the burgeoning challenge and collecting tokens along the path until every point has been reached.
Each year, he has tasted victory.
Now, it’s time for everyone to start the adventure again.
The quest is the Greater Charlotte Book Crawl. It’s a month-long campaign, running through April 30, to support local bookstores across the Charlotte metro.
There are 22 participating stores this year, including new businesses such as Troubadour Booksellers and Trope Bookshop, which opened its brick-and-mortar site in March. The goal is to visit them all to be entered into a grand prize pool.
Natale started his journey last week at Book Buyers, a Charlotte staple that’s been selling used books since 1999.
He first learned about the crawl in its inaugural year, 2022, and leapt at the opportunity to join in.
“We found out about it on Facebook through Goldberry Books,” Natale said. “We were trying to support them because at the time all of downtown Concord was still under construction, and we were worried they were going to go out of business.”
Local bookstores versus big-box stores
Garnering support is what led to the creation of the book crawl, said Alyssa Pressler, owner of That’s Novel Books in Camp North End.
In 2021, a group of local bookstore owners began to discuss what they could do to bring people back into their stores.
The crawl was the answer in 2022.
“It was kind of the perfect timing because we were all struggling,” Pressler said. “The first year was really a reminder that we’re still here … that there is a really incredible reader community here in Charlotte, and there are awesome spots to go get your books locally rather than support Amazon or some of the other big corporations.”
That initial year, 10 stores participated, including Editions Coffee and Bookstore in Kannapolis, Main Street Books in Davidson, The Urban Reader in Concord and Walls of Books in Cornelius.
And the crawl has been a success.
Thousands of people began to participate, even if it was to simply check out the stores, Pressler said. Book crawl season has even become one of the most profitable months for some of the stores, more so than the holidays.
More reading, new third places
The crawl doesn’t just help bookstores. Many of the stores are in downtown areas including Tall Stories Books and Print Gallery on Cherry Road in Rock Hill, Fred and June’s Books on Main Street in Mooresville and Cleary’s Bookstore on Main Street in Mt. Holly.
So when planning for a crawl day, participants can stop at the bookstore and check out the other local businesses.
“You’ll get something to eat or walk around, and hopefully you’re experiencing a new neighborhood,” Pressler said. “The crawl is obviously for book lovers, but it’s also for folks who are champions of shopping local. We found that many in our community are very passionate about that.”
There’s also a sense of community.
Natale said one of the coolest experiences he’s had participating in the crawls is running into the same people.
“It’s a side effect. You go to the same store. You say hi four times to the same person to the point where you’re like maybe we should talk,” Natale said. “We had days where because of how obvious it is to plan your route, we ended up routing with the same people all day.”
Book crawl game plan and prizes
So how does this work? Participants have until the end of April to visit either all or as many stores as they can. There’s passports at each location, and participants need a stamp for every stop.
Purchase isn’t required for the stamp, but, of course, it’s encouraged.
And this year, there’s a tiered system for prizes.
Hit seven stores and receive a poster. At the 15th store, the prize is a tote bag. Visit all 22 and earn a one-time 10% discount for any store of your choosing.
Then there’s the grand prize. Crawl finishers will enter into a chance to win a $20 gift card from each store for a total of $420.
Completing the crawl is doable. Last year, over 300 people finished.
Pressler has some tips:
Using the map on the crawl’s Instagram page, group locations together. For example, visit all the Rock Hill stores in one day if you don’t live close to South Carolina.
Check store hours. Some stores aren’t open on Mondays and Tuesdays.
But the most important tip: Have fun.
“I hope patrons realize how rich the book community is here in Charlotte,” Pressler said. “I hope they find some incredible books, meet some new folks and find a new bookshop that they haven’t been to. More than anything, I hope people just have the best time, checking out all the stores, supporting them and exploring Charlotte.”
CharlotteFive joins the book crawl
Last week, I took a quick trip to some of the participating stores, hitting up That’s Novel, Trope Bookshop, Book Buyers and Goldberry Books. — all during the evening rush hour.
Here’s who I met and their favorite books this year:
At That’s Novel, Lauren Arcangeli said she isn’t planning to complete the crawl this month but will visit each store eventually. She said she typically supports local bookstores because of the friendly environment. And because they usually have popular books in stock, including the new book in the Hunger Games series, “Sunrise on the Reaping.” Her fave book this year: “Annihilation” by Jeff Vandermeer.
I caught Leah Young leaving Trope Bookstore. (We also saw Arcangeli!) Young has always been an avid reader, starting from the Scholastic book fairs at her elementary school. Now, she reads as a form of resistance, especially with talks on the federal level about book banning.
“There’s this whole movement, especially within the Black and brown community, where a lot of our history is being erased. And we’re saying no,” Young said. “My mission is to make sure that books by Black authors are being read and pushed.” Her favorite book: “Skye Falling” by Mia McKenzie.
Virginia O’Riley has worked at Book Buyers since it opened. Business was booming on a Friday, (when I also ran into Young!) something she’s always glad to see.
“When this first came out, I thought no one would be interested. And I was proven wrong from the get-go,” O’Riley said. “I’m just happy to see all these people in here.”
Ben and Andrea Goryl stumbled across the crawl when visiting the Urban Reader Bookmobile. I met them at Goldberry. Andrea Goryl is a sixth-grade language arts teacher, and her goal is always to get kids into reading. Her recommendations are “The Couple Next Door” by Shari Lapena and “The Book Eaters” by Sunyi Dean.
And for our faithful readers: My favorite books this year have been “Call Me by Your Name” by André Aciman, “Luster” by Raven Leilani and “I Who Have Never Known Men” by Jacqueline Harpman.
Uniquely Charlotte: Uniquely Charlotte is an Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride) of why we live in the Charlotte area.
This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 5:15 AM with the headline "The Greater Charlotte Book Crawl is in full swing, and it’s not just about books."
