On Saturday, September 8, 2018, Auntie’s Bookstore in Spokane, WA celebrated its 40th anniversary. The store opened in 1978– originally under the name Book & Game Co. and owned by Chris O’Harra and Shannon Ahern. The store moved to its current location, the historic Liberty Building in downtown Spokane, in 1994. John Waite purchased the store from O’Harra in 2016. For a great profile of the store (and the independent bookselling industry), see the recent article by Becky Kramer in The Spokesman-Review. For another slice of Auntie’s history, see our profile from 2011.
Below is a post from the store’s Facebook page.
So a couple thoughts on our amazing 40th anniversary day for “The Book and Game Company” and Auntie’s Bookstore.
Auntie’s “History of Books” display
#1 – Our customers are amazing, and we appreciate and thank you all for the support and kind words today and beyond.
#2 – Our staff is also amazing, hard working, and full of love for Aunties and our customers. Everyone made this a great day for Spokane, reading and books.
#3 – My personal favorite part of today was meeting all those old time customers that have supported us through four decades, while listening to music from 1978 (the year this all started).
#4 – My other favorite thing is our amazing “history of books” display Kerry, our manager, put together. It’s a trip through the years with a couple of the notable books from each year. We are going to keep it up through the holidays. Check it out, and find some notables to add to your reading stack.
Thanks again to everyone that made this an amazing day.
— John Waite, store owner
