New Batavia bookstore celebrates first holiday season

Located in the shopping center at Fabyan Parkway and Randall Road, Bookhunters New and Used Books celebrates its first holiday season this year after opening the store in July.

“There seems to be all these scenes in movies about hanging out in the bookstore during the holidays,” said Derrick Allison, who co-owns the store with his wife, Vicki. “You come in out of the cold, you can mingle and chat and it’s casual. It’s the antithesis of social media – an inviting place where you can come in and spend some time.”

Books are thoughtful, meaningful and memorable gifts.

“They don’t seem to be the kind of gift that’s re-gifted, a book is a little more personal,” said Vicki Allison. “If someone likes gardening or sailing and you find a book on that topic for them, it shows someone that you thought about finding something you would like to give them and it’s not just some shirt or a tie that isn’t going to fit.”

Ideally, the Allisons hope the vibe of those who shop regularly at the Trader Joe’s next door will result in more foot traffic and thus more opportunities for those in the community to hang out and, of course, find and purchase books. The store offers a wide variety, including scholarly, religious, history, kids and fiction titles.

“Things are going well,” she said. “Teen fiction continues to be a big seller as well as sci-fi/fantasy series. Current fiction bestselling authors like Kristin Hannah, Lisa Jewell, Colleen Hoover, Harlan Coben and Lee Child are among the top-selling authors in our shop.”

Hannah’s 2015 novel “The Nightingale” is being made into a film starring Dakota and Elle Fanning, set to be released in late 2022. Fans of the two young actresses probably would enjoy a copy of “The Nightingale” if they don’t have one yet.

After decorating the bookstore for Halloween and fall, Bookhunters turned its store into a winter wonderland of literature for the holidays. This includes a table showcasing the season with plenty of holiday novels, cookbooks and, of course, copies of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

“We [anticipated] a busy holiday season, with new books in slipcases like an F. Scott Fitzgerald collection to a gorgeous boxed gift book/set on the history of chocolate, and new shrink-wrapped sets of ‘The Great Horror and Fantasy Collection,’ which is a gift-boxed set of nine fantasy classics.”

Beautiful decorative foiled journals with unicorns, fairies and photos from the Bodleian Library bookshelves at University of Oxford have been a top-selling gift item already. Bookhunters also has box sets of “The Essential Poetry Collection,” which includes some of the best-loved works from the greatest poets.

While Bookhunters may be relatively new to Batavia, the Allisons have been passionate about selling books for about 20 years in former bookstores and online. They maintain a strong online presence with an inventory of about 20,000 titles listed on Amazon, AbeBooks, Alibris and eBay, making them a great source for assistance in finding and recommending titles.

Learn more about the store, located at 1938 W. Fabyan Parkway in Batavia, on Facebook at Bookhunters New And Used Books.