All Bookstore Tours are currently full.

We have lined up some options for a fantastic full-day and half-day tour, to visit a variety of stores.

All itineraries are subject to change. Bookstore Tours are available to Wi2024 registrants only. Booksellers will need to go to their registry page to sign up. Space is limited.

HALF-DAY BOOKSTORE TOURS

Sunday, February 11 |  12:00 pm to 3:45 pm ET
$45 per person; includes snack

Half-Day Tour 1 (SOLD OUT)

Bookstores include:  Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Bookery Cincy, and
Household Books. Ohio bookstores only

Half-Day Tour 2 (SOLD OUT)

Bookstores include: Roebling Books & Coffee (Covington), The Book Rack, and The Bookmatters Bookstore. Ohio and Kentucky bookstores

FULL-DAY BOOKSTORE TOURS

Sunday, February 11 |  9:00 am to 3:45 pm ET
$85 per person; includes boxed lunch

Full-Day Tour 1 (SOLD OUT)

Bookstores include: Downbound Books, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Bookery Cincy, The Bookmatters, and Cincy Book Bus/The Book Bus Depot. Ohio bookstores only

Full-Day Tour 2 (SOLD OUT)

Bookstores include: Blue Marble Books, Roebling Books & Coffee (Dayton), Scarlet Rose Books & Vintage Boutique, Downbound Books, and Joy & Matt’s. Ohio and Kentucky bookstores

INTERNATIONAL BOOKSTORE TOURS

Sunday, February 11 |  9:00 am to 3:45 pm ET
$85 per person; includes boxed lunch

International Tour (SOLD OUT)

Bookstores include: Household Books, The Bookshelf, The Book Rack, Roebling Books & Coffee (Newport), and Scarlet Rose Books & Vintage Boutique

Bookstore Descriptions

Blue Marble Books was founded by Tina Moore in 1979 as a way to promote youth literacy and a joy for reading. We continue that legacy to this day, curating a space where children can discover the magic of books and the adventures to be found therein.

Bookery Cincy is a small independent bookstore based in Cincinnati, Ohio’s oldest neighborhood, Columbia Tusculum. While set amongst buildings from the 1800s, our store is focused on new reads split between kids and adults. We believe our competition is not other booksellers (even that big one we all know). Our focus is to help others reclaim their time and attention from doom-scrolling platforms that take your time and offer no value back. We care most that our customers find those books for them that scream to be finished, even if it means staying up all night to turn that last page. At Bookery, we want to empower people to have their attention back, because you deserve great stories.

Cincy Book Bus is a mobile bookstore off the back of a 1962 VW truck. We sell books at pop-up events and online. We also have a brick-and-mortar storefront called The Book Bus Depot.

Downbound Books opened in late 2019 with the goal of bringing an old-fashioned neighborhood bookstore to Cincinnati’s Northside. To us, being a neighborhood shop means we both serve and support our community and its residents, organizations, and schools. We work to stock an ever-evolving selection of books that resonate with our community. With just over 500 square feet of selling space, we couldn’t possibly compete with vendors offering a massive selection, so we don’t try. We’re not driven by bestsellers, and we don’t think our role is to offer the same books that are available everywhere else — though we love many of those books, and are always happy to get them for you. In the store, though, we try to present books, ideas, and authors that aren’t always so easy to discover elsewhere. We hope you’ll like what you find.

The Bookmatters is an independent bookstore located in charming Milford, Ohio. We sell books, buy them please.

The Book Rack has been a Cincinnati institution since the mid 1970s. In 2017, new owners purchased the store and started adding more sidelines and more new titles, with an emphasis on Manga, SF/F, Horror, and Young Adult Fiction. Currently, The Book Rack focuses on being an experience for people who love to read and exercise their minds! In addition to books, they have Board Games, RPGs, TCGs, and an ever-changing parade of sidelines like posters, stickers, miniatures, and dice!

We are a small independent well-curated bookstore. We have been in business for 48 years at the same location. Special orders welcome. Free gift wrap. A neighborhood store where everybody knows your name. School discounts, and in-store Book Club.

Household Books is an idea for a new type of bookstore for people who love the old type of bookstore. Household Books is a used bookstore and literary venue with a focus on community, curation, and connection. We sell used books, vintage clothing and vinyl records. We host live events and feature community enrichment programming as well as offering space rental for private occasions.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers is a general interest bookstore that sells new children's and adult books. We have two locations: Lexington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. Our headquarters is in Cincinnati.

Joy and Matt’s Books features a hand-picked selection of new and used books, located at 1515 Vine Street in Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio. Our inventory covers all genres but emphasizes the very best in Science & Nature, History, Contemporary Fiction, and Science Fiction. Open A New Adventure!

Roebling Books & Coffee is an independent, locally-owned haven for caffeinated readers and destination for book lovers. It’s a connector between energetic, artistic and socially committed people. RoBoCo is dedicated to helping our community. Our free-to-reserve community space is often occupied by one of the 26 advocacy groups we either volunteer with or support in-kind. We believe that society ascends in a rising line with human decency. Our golden future lies not at the end of a yellow brick road; instead, it’s a path paved with books. 

We support the right to read whatever readers choose. We want to improve our next generation’s best chance for success via literacy. At the heart of all this, what we’re working to accelerate and share is the most affirming and profound personal connection in my life, which occurs regularly when someone comes up, often with a book in hand, and says “This book, and this place…it changed my life."

Scarlet Rose Books & Vintage Boutique is a haven where literature, fashion, and nostalgia intertwine. Named after our own daughters, our store is a labor of love situated next to the serene Ohio River in Ludlow, KY. With a passion for stories and style, we've carefully curated a collection of new books that ignite the imagination, cozy clothing that soothes the soul, and vintage pieces that whisper tales of the past. Our journey is defined by our community's warmth and support, and we're grateful to stand alongside our neighbors in Ludlow. Through book clubs, workshops, and poetry nights — we're committed to nurturing connections that transcend pages and garments. Discover Scarlet Rose, where stories, comfort, and history come together in perfect harmony.