Ariana Micale, who runs Hollow and Quill with her mother Gina, says that she is part of a 'family who are entrepreneurs and have that entrepreneurial spirit ... what better way to pursue it than selling stuff that we love?'
Hollow and Quill focuses on particular book genres: romance, mystery, thriller and horror fiction. 'My mother really likes murder mysteries and thrillers,' says Micale. 'I've been dipping my toe more into romance, but I am more of a horror reader … So the front half of the store is romance, back half of the store, those darker genres, mystery, thriller, horror. We have a small classic section as well, because my mother does have her master's in English and I'm getting my PhD in English.'
'Our goal when we opened up,' continues Micale, 'was to have it be a bookstore first, but secondarily, we wanted it to be a community space … that was incredibly important to us, you know, where people can come in and use the back half of our store, which is filled with tables and chairs.'
The response to the store so far has been very positive. 'It's been surprisingly better than we could ever expect,' says Micale. 'The Reno community has just been so great, and has welcomed us with open arms. The other local bookstores have been incredibly welcoming, too, and have stopped by and have helped us along the way and been super encouraging.'
Plans for the future include book blind boxes and adding to the store's range of book clubs, which currently includes clubs for Classics, Contemporary and Dark Romance, British Mystery, and Horror. 'I want to do like more niche ones, potentially like a Hunger Games one because the new movie's coming out … We did launch our first mystery blind box for only the romance genre, but we do plan on expanding that into those mystery and horror and thriller genres.' Classes, too, may be part of the future, 'to make classics … just general education on literature more accessible.'
Hollow and Quill is located at 300 S. Wells Avenue #6 in Reno. hollowandquill.com for more.
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