Meet the woman turning a new page in Wilmington's book scene

WILMINGTON, De. (AP) — When Ellen Cappard has a bad day, she goes to the library.

It’s a practice she started as a child, growing up around the corner from the library in her South Jersey neighborhood, and one that’s followed her into adulthood.

“You know when you’re someplace and you just feel, ‘These are my people, this is where I belong?’” Cappard said. “That’s how I feel when I go to the library.”

It’s that same feeling of belonging and love of reading that Cappard hopes to spark in Wilmington, with the opening of Books & Bagels, the first bookstore to open within city limits since the closure of Ninth Street Book Shop in 2018.

There are a handful of bookstores still in New Castle County – The Hockessin Book Shelf, two Barnes and Nobles, and a scattering of niche comic book stores.

But after moving to Wilmington from Washington, D.C. in 2017, Cappard was shocked by the lack of neighborhood bookstores in the city.

“Every neighborhood (in D.C.) had its own bookstore, with its unique character and quality,” Cappard said. “I didn’t realize how much of a treasure that was until I moved.”

So, she opened her own.

Housed in Cornerstone West Community Development Corporation’s small business incubator space at the corner of 7th and Harrison streets, Books & Bagels features shelves full of colorful books, with an array of diverse and up-and-coming authors.

In one corner, tiny leather chairs make up a reading nook for children. Leafy green plants fill in the spaces between stacks of books, and a countertop filled with tea, snacks and pastries greets customers when they enter.

She wants it to be a place where everyone can feel like they belong. Warm and welcoming, “where you can let your hair down and relax.”

It’s...