Pat and Valerie Burkholder, co-owners of Epilogue Books at 10 East Bridge Street in Rockford, Mich., hosted a ribbon cutting and grand opening celebration on Saturday, July 14. At the end of the day, they posted on Facebook: "From the bottom of our hearts thank you to everyone who came to our grand opening today and made it a huge success. We enjoyed meeting all of you and appreciate the support you showed for our new business. The Rockford community came out in force and we are so grateful. We would also like to thank all the family and friends who came to support us today, you are appreciated!"
In a profile last week, Grand Rapids magazine reported that "the couple shares a strong love of reading and a mission to share that with the community."
"Pat and I have always been physical book people and love the feel of a book in my hand, turning the pages, even the smell of a new book," Valerie Burkholder said. "The digital world is nice if I know exactly what I want. However, if I don't, it can be overwhelming and there's nothing quite like walking into a small bookstore and looking at covers and getting recommendations from staff. We think there are a lot of people out there that feel similarly."
Epilogue Books sells new books in "all genres" and has "a great kids' section," she added. "We also carry regional titles (books about Michigan) and will be selling many local authors works as well, both adult and children's." The children's section features a mural painted by local artist Rebecca Haigler. In addition to books, the store will offer greeting cards, coffee mugs, bookmarks, wall art and pottery pieces locally crafted by Michigan artists.
"We want to support local talent as much as we can," Burkholder said. "The philosophy of most independent bookstores is to be part of the community and we wholeheartedly believe in that. We want to be engaged within our community and believe supporting local artists is one way to do that.... Rockford is a great community with a small town feel but close to all that Grand Rapids has to offer. We've received tons of support from the community for our store and are so glad we can do this here."