Indie book store opens in downtown Cedar Falls

It was a crisp fall Saturday morning, and the newest addition to downtown Cedar Falls was opening its doors for the first time. People had been gathering around since around 8 a.m. in excitement for the new indie bookstore. By the time the store actually opened, the line had grown and ran around the block. 

As people rushed inside with the smell of candles and new books, Brandon Conrad, one of the owners of the bookstore alongside his wife Abby, were shocked to find their bookstore was such a huge hit. They only expected a small line waiting for them on opening day.

“It was crazy. My father in law was letting people in and out to control traffic because it was so busy, so people were waiting upward to about two hours to just get into the store,” Conrad said. “We were hoping there would be a small line or something, but for it to go around the block for hours, it was awesome.”

The Nook opened on Saturday, Nov. 20, making it the newest addition to the downtown Cedar Falls community. Already it has made a huge hit with customers. By the end of the weekend half their inventory was gone. Last year, the owners Conrad and Abby Olson, decided to look for their own space and start their own store. In previous years, they had already been selling candles at the Cedar Falls farmers market and had their own spot at the Cob Mercantile in Cedar Falls to sell books.

“My wife loves books. She’s always loved books, and we’ve gotten into business in the last few years, and last year we decided to finally start looking for our own place to open our store, and that’s kind of how this came about,” Conrad said. 

However, The Nook sells more than just books. The candles in the store are handmade by Conrad himself. The Nook also sells items from other small businesses as well as other items from the Olson and Conrad families. The Nook also hopes to host a book club after the holiday season, although they don’t have all the details yet.

“I’m thinking we would do a monthly book club and maybe offer a bi-weekly every other week for people that read more, so we could host a couple different book clubs, and we have a sitting area in there. We have coffee and baked goods,” Conrad said. 

As well as the book club, they hope to host other fun events in the future such as author signings. To find schedules of upcoming events, one can visit The Nook’s Instagram page or stop by The Nook itself. 

“We love main street,” Conrad said. “We love downtown. We always have, and it’s really cool to be a part of it.”

The Nook Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thenook.cf/