- There's a story about the bookstore and then there's a story how we ended up in Mount Pleasant.

Jenny and I met here at school.

We were an undergrads here at Central Michigan.

We were both in a teacher program, but she was in elementary ed.

I was in secondary.

We met at the Italian Oven, and since then, we have been together, and we moved to Alaska to teach together.

- And so we just took the plunge and we actually took job site and scene in a fly-in Alaskan village.

And so we moved up there and we were in the village for two years.

And then we moved to the road system for two more years.

And we had our daughter up there and then we wanted to be closer to family.

So we moved back to Michigan.

- [Stefanie] After filling their need to travel and explore, Jenny and Riley Justis are writing the next chapter after discovering the needs of their community.

- The last census data identified Isabella County as a book desert.

That means that the number of books in the homes are low and the access to books are low.

And so we knew that there was the need in the community, and then we just needed to figure out if there was a want.

And we just did that very informally.

We talked to people.

We had, you know, our friends ask their friends like, "Is this something that we think would succeed and that you would support in the community?"

And overwhelmingly the answer was, "Yes, that would be awesome.

Please open this.

Please do this."

And so we did.

- [Stefanie] After decades of bookstore closures and changing reading habits from books to digital versions, opening a bookstore didn't come without potential risks.

The shop opened in 2022.

Yep, during the COVID pandemic.

- We saw that there was enough interest.

We saw that there was enough people that were readers and we saw globally over COVID that people kinda came back to reading.

So we saw a transition, and whether it's reading on a Kindle or reading on your device or reading a book, there's always those that are interested.

And really making something available in the local community became a priority for us.

- [Stefanie] As owners of their own store, the connections with their customers speak volumes.

And that's something that you just can't get at the big box stores.

- It's a lot like being a bartender.

You have people come in, they tell you about their passions, they tell you about their interests, their family strife, all of those different things, 'cause you're helping them find the right book.

- And the nice thing about being a community bookstore is, if we see a shift in what the community is coming in and asking for, we can really easily make that shift and grow a section or get rid of a section.

And so we are really reflective of the community and what they want.

- [Stefanie] Opening the store was just the beginning for the Justis's.

They've since established a nonprofit and the impact of their mission is already making a difference.

- So we have four programs that we really focus on.

First and foremost is the book vending machines, because we see that there's a direct impact as if you walk into one of the schools that has a vending machine currently, the whole conversation has really shifted.

They talk about what books are in the machine, what they're gonna do to earn a token.

They're talking about what book is in the machine or what book is coming out.

So we're really shifting the whole paradigm, not only of literacy and learning, but also about behavior.

Our other programs range from like literacy nights where we work with community partners to bring families in.

We provide them resources, but we also bring literacy experts to train the parents how to work with their children as literacy learners.

We do book giveaways.

We have the book trailer.

The idea is we can pull up to an event or a community gathering, and especially communities that don't have access to books or bookstores, we can give away books.

- We also host, you know, story times and author events or community events like the ice cream social we do every summer, Final Fridays, which is music on the streets, in the corners on summer nights.

We really try to engage the community in different aspects.

So we try to do different events to catch different populations.

So hopefully, we have something that everyone would be interested in and get involved.

- [Stefanie] Jenny and Riley are now writing the next chapter of their story, one that may inspire others and broaden horizons through the power of books and reading.

- I've always wanted a bookstore, and I've kind of pushed the dream onto Jenny, but I've always loved bookstores.

It's been a way for me to like really experience cultures in different cities, because the bookstore, especially local bookstores, reflect the community that they're in.

- I'm joined by Jenny Justis, one of the co-owners as you just saw.

And she brought along some special friends today.

Jenny, who are these two, and how did they kind of influence what you do?

- Yeah, so these are our dogs.

This is Cooper and Rosie, and we name the store after them.

So our kids have grown up... Hi, guys.

Our kids have grown up reading with our dogs.

So it's a really good literacy strategy, reading strategy to read to animals.

So it helps boost the kids' confidence and make them comfortable with reading out loud and really working with books.

So we kinda name the store after, you know, the dogs 'cause they've been a big part in our life and our kids, you know, reading journey.

- And they are very sweet.

- [Jenny] Yes.

- [Stefanie] Well, thank you for bringing them out here today.

- [Jenny] Yes.