Turning the page

On the first anniversary of opening up a tiny pop-up bookshop inside Middle Village Micro Market, A Novel Concept co-owners Christine Peffer Bennett, 31, and Elise Jajuga, 38, were still adjusting to their new digs in downtown Lansing.

On Oct. 15, the entrepreneurs upgraded to its new spot, at 222 S. Washington Square, a brick-and-mortar location near the shop’s humble beginnings inside the market. The store’s expansion is a part of Lansing’s literary boom that saw seven indie bookshops open amid the pandemic. But Jajuga said her interest in books and literature goes back well before the shutdown.

“I have a bunch of memories about interacting with books at a young age,” Jajuga said, “including hiding books in my room in case I got grounded since my parents figured out the most effective punishment was to remove them.”

While living in Chicago, Jajuga frequented many niche bookstores with varied vibes.

“I realized there were a lot of cool concepts that bookstores employed that might be novel in the mid-Michigan area,” she said. The idea got filed away for some time as Jajuga got busy managing an independent journal, Open Palm Print.

After starting a hiking group in the winter of 2020, Jajuga was chatting with Peffer Bennet, who casually suggested starting a bookshop. For Peffer Bennet, a doctoral candidate in English at Michigan State University, becoming a writer and bookseller was a dream come true.

“After reading ‘Lord of the Rings’ and realizing I couldn't be an elf, I thought being a writer and bookseller would be the next best thing,” she said.

The duo began scouting downtown Lansing, window-shopping for potential sites. After a tip from a friend about an MSU Surplus online auction of several pallets of books, they placed a winning bid for 1,000 titles.

“We started doing pop-ups,” Jajuga recalled. “As we like to say serendipitously, it just so happens our very first pop-up was in the building we now occupy when it was still Soul Nutrition.”

After carting books around all summer at festivals and special events, the duo joined the initial cohort of small business incubators inside the Middle Village Micro Market in the fall of 2021. After a retail space opened up a few blocks down the street, the duo jumped at the chance to write the next chapter of their book business.

The 2,000-square-foot space carries carefully curated new and used book selections and literary events with a mission to support the wide-ranging storytelling community. Featured titles at A Novel Concept spotlight underrepresented voices and perspectives from women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, Indigenous people, international authors and local writers.

“We plan to work toward expanding these offerings, especially those produced by local vendors,” Jajuga said. “We are also excited about collaborating with the fantastic artist Sara Pulver, who will open her retail studio space inside our shop for November and December.”

Beyond the thriving local book community, the duo hopes to do their part in the strong revitalization efforts in the capital area.

“We want to help make Lansing a city that folks don’t just bypass on their way to Grand Rapids or Detroit or up north,” Jajuga said.