Jenni Hill went from first-time barista to owner of Avant Garden in downtown Anoka in six months.
Two years later, she has added independent bookseller to her list of titles.
In January Avant Garden, a longtime independent coffee shop on Main Street, began carrying books in a bid to resist Amazon and fill a niche downtown.
“I see this as something I want to bring to our town,” Hill said. “I love bookstores, and I thought, why not me?”
Hill comes from a corporate background, but when she decided to rejoin the workforce after a stint as a stay-at-home parent, she didn’t want to return to the corporate world. As a coffee lover, she became a customer at Avant Garden, ended up applying for a job as a barista in the summer of 2019 and “really fell in love with the community here.”
Later the same year, she was considering opening a coffee shop in Coon Rapids, where she lives, when she learned the owners of Avant Garden were looking to sell.
“I … somehow talked my husband into it and became the owner in December that year,” she said.
Only a few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic struck Minnesota and nearly killed Avant Garden.
All of a sudden Hill faced constantly evolving restrictions and concerns and watched business slow to a trickle. On some days she might see only five people come in.
“I barely knew how to run the place as it was,” Hill said. “And that was really hard.”
By May, she didn’t think she could take it any longer.
“I mentally broke at a point and said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’m going to close,’” Hill said.
She wasn’t sure if it would be a permanent closure, but the response from the community was overwhelming and unexpected. An outpouring of support convinced her to reopen after a few days.
“I posted the night before … and it was like nonstop that entire day,” she said. “It was crazy how people showed up. … I don’t want to say it was a good thing I closed, but I think it did remind people what, you know, the little guys were like me … were going through at that time.”
Ironically, the pandemic may be what gave Hill the courage to pursue the idea of turning Avant Garden into a bookstore-coffee shop.
When she first took over the shop, she didn’t feel free to make changes, didn’t feel like she could really put her stamp on the place. The pandemic forced her to make difficult decisions and change things up.
“It’s really allowed me to take ownership of this business,” she said.
With that newfound sense of ownership, she was ready to make a bold move when inspiration struck.
It started with an article in the New Yorker about Danny Caine, owner of the Raven bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas, and author of “How to Resist Amazon and Why.”
Caine is open about the fact that his store can’t compete with Amazon on price, and he’s critical of the e-commerce giant.
“The article really made me angry about bookstores being taken away from us,” Hill said. “I know of no independent bookstores nearby.”
Hill said she grew up going to bookstores and spending free time in bookstores. She’s “that mom” who gives books as gifts and considers books a significant part of her identity. So she had a strong reaction to the New Yorker piece.
“Even though, you know, his article was basically saying books aren’t a great market to be in, it made me mad enough to say, ‘Well I’m going to still do it,’” Hill said.
Caine’s book was one of the first Avant Garden carried.
Initially Hill didn’t intend to become a full-fledged bookstore, but her vision has expanded. She intends to expand her inventory by purchasing books around a theme each month. In March she’s focused on mysteries. She also plans to coordinate with the downtown Anoka theater, Lyric Arts, to carry books that correspond to the plays featured on the Main Street Stage. When the theater company produces “Little Women” this summer, Hill will carry copies.
By the fall she hopes to look unmistakably like a bookstore, and she wants to host book clubs eventually.
One challenge Hill foresees is how to best use the coffee shop’s space as she adds inventory.
“It’s such a welcoming space, and I don’t want to lose that,” she said.
But she believes coffee and books are a natural combination, and so far the response to her idea has been positive.
Those who want to keep up with Avant Garden and its progress as an independent bookstore can follow it on Facebook at facebook.com/AvantGardenAnoka.
jonathan.young@apgecm.com
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