PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 97 story time keplers.com A FAMILY AFFAIR: AMANDA HALL “Kepler's isn't just a retail store,” muses the bookstore’s COO Amanda Hall. “Yes, we sell books, but it's really a place to gather, to share information, to learn, to grow up.” People even fall in love here. Recently, Amanda saw a couple who’d spent their first date bantering and browsing the bookstore return to Kepler’s to pose for engagement photos. “We are a part of family traditions,” adds Amanda, remarking that she sees a large number of families visit the day after Thanksgiving—right after a big breakfast at Cafe Borrone. Amanda’s own daughters have made many memories here. “They The Little Bookstore That Could PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: KEPLER'S BOOKS grew up in the bookstore,” she says, recalling her older daughter’s thrilling encounter with Hunger Game’s Suzanne Collins at an event. “Authors in our world are rock stars.” Amanda’s younger daughter, a big fan of the Babymouse series, also got to meet her idol. “I would say she was a reluctant reader, and these silly graphic novels were what started her love of reading. So for her to get to hang out for a day with Jennifer L. Holm, with a cupcake crown, and be a part of the event and the reading, that was amazing.” In later years, both daughters would come to work at the store. People may have come and gone from Kepler’s, but there’s one constant: its staff has faithfully tended the bookstore’s flame, keeping it shining from one generation to the next. Thanks to them, patrons old and new are still finding books that expand their horizons, 70 years after Roy Kepler opened its doors. “It makes you feel honored to be the steward of something that is so important to them,” says Amanda. Your last name doesn’t have to be Kepler to be a part of this evergrowing bookstore family.
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