Storybook Beginning

“How can you have a cute little town with well-read people and not have a bookstore?” asked Patty Gibson, co-owner of Pages in Manhattan Beach.

Her childhood dream to open a bookstore came to fruition when she partnered with Linda McLoughlin Figel and Margot Farris. Though Figel and Gibson toyed with the idea of opening a store for a while, it was Farris who found the prime real estate on Manhattan Avenue last October.

The three women wanted a bookstore not only for themselves and their community, but also for their families. All mothers, the partners tag team for soccer practice pick-ups and orthodontics appointments. And in return, the children have all been active in getting the store up and running.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this,” said Farris. “It’s a lifestyle. You enjoy doing it, but there’s still time to be with the kids and the community.”

Pages offers a variety of fiction, non-fiction and children’s books, but there’s more that separates this independent retailer from the big-box sellers.

“It’s customer service. And a lot of the people who come in will know one of us or all of us,” said Gibson, noting that all three women live locally. Pages has quickly become a gathering place for book clubs and events, including a children’s story reading hour on Monday mornings. Pages will soon host fiction and non-fiction writing classes, a monthly book club open to the public, and an open mic night for high school students.

“There is a vacant store across the way. Maybe someday we’ll have to expand across the street,” Figel said, with a smile.

Pages: a bookstore
904 Manhattan Avenue, Manhattan Beach
310-318-0900
pagesabookstore.com