Welcome. We are two nerds who had to start a bookstore.
When Joy emigrated to the United States from China, she started reading books in English to improve her language skills. Her first was the acclaimed biography Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. Matt grew up surrounded by piles of second-hand books his father collected and took to reading like an Esox masquinongy to water. In elementary school he raided the local library for books about fish, airplanes, and astronomy. When we met, Joy was delighted to see Matt’s Cincinnati home full of the best decoration, books. Matt was delighted to see Joy scoop up a huge stack of books on an early trip to Joseph Beth in Norwood, Ohio. Books proved to be an inexhaustible topic for our conversations. After all, any topic that has been considered seriously by anyone is out there in a book somewhere. At some point one of us idly commented that it would be really fun to have a place, not just to sell books but to talk about them and to meet other booklovers. Last year, Matt finished his M.A. and Joy decided to leave her fellowship in a research lab. Joy said, “It is the perfect time to open our bookstore.” Here it is! Joy and Matt’s is here!
Our bookstore is small (for now), but it has the best collections of books. We select books by our heart. All the books in our store are the ones we want to put on our own bookshelves. People read less nowadays. There are fewer bookstores around the world. We want to do our duty to call people back. Books are the foundation of our culture and history. We learn new things by reading. We learn our past by reading. We solve problems by reading. We pass our knowledge to children by writing it down. We will let our community know reading is enjoyable. We want to let our community know reading is our true power. We want to let our community know that books are our essential nutrients to get stronger. We want out community to know that books are our friends.
We are Joy and Matt’s Books. We are on our adventure every day in books. You can start yours today!
Location: 915 Vine St., hours: 11-6 Tues-Sat, Sunday 11-5.