Bookworms Unite: Woolly Bear Books and Gifts marries nature, literature, all things local
CARNEGIE – It's a Wednesday in mid-October, and mid-morning light spills through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Woolly Bear Books and Gifts, drenching some titles in sunshine, casting others in shadow. Wooden shelves set against bold orange and white walls are heavy with books that return one to a childhood bedroom or first apartment; covers that welcome a gentle caress, or inspire wonder.
Gifts by local artisans are scattered amongst the titles. There are jars of warm honey from local Bumble Berry farm; loose leaf tea in flavors like "poet's study;" bookish bookends; Taylor Swift and cat knick-knacks; Dungeons and Dragons die ornaments, hand-glazed by a local artist, and other novelties.
"I want this place to be crammed full of product," said Michael Ploetz, who opened Woolly Bear in downtown Carnegie on Halloween. "I don't have a lot of space to begin with, but I just think it's cool to walk around and, like, everywhere you turn, there's just something weird and unique to look at. That's kind of the vibe I'm bringing here."
Woolly Bear is certainly a vibe. The space is cozy-chic and inviting, its New York City publishing world meets Pittsburgh, with a dash of your whimsical best friend's style and pure imagination. Not only is Carngie's first bookstore in decades a vibe, it's also a dream-come-true.
"I've wanted to do this for a long time," said Ploetz, who was born and raised just outside of Buffalo, N.Y. "When I was deciding where to go to college, I wanted to pick a place that wasn't too close to my parents'. I was looking at Pittsburgh, and we went to go visit Pitt, and I just loved the whole campus, the fact that it was in the city, but kind of outside of the city."
During his college years, he worked at an established bookstore in Shadyside, where the creaking floorboards, the scent of new books, and the novelty items enchanted him. After four years living in Pittsburgh, he was off to the Big Apple.
"My degree was in marketing, but I always kind of thought of myself as a book person, first and foremost. If you're a book person, publishing is the dream. So I wanted to do it, and I went out there and got a job in publishing," he said.
Life in the city that never sleeps was wonderful, but when New York shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ploetz's tiny apartment became confining, and his only outlet was New York's parks. During the pandemic, he started indoor gardening – and decided to make the leap and move back to Pittsburgh, where the cost of living was much more affordable.
Though he continued working remotely in publishing, Ploetz's desire to open a bookstore grew. In August, Ploetz mentioned to Dagny Como, who owns Dagny's eatery in Carnegie, that he was looking for real estate. She told him the corner space at the property across the street was recently listed for lease. Ploetz hurried over, called the number listed, and, like a chapter already written, secured the space for his literary venture.
The shop's name, Woolly Bear, is a nod to Ploetz's passion for nature (he graduated from Phipp's Conservatory's master gardener program Oct. 31), and a fun play on words: the creature is often nicknamed the "woolly worm," and, as a mascot, is a tribute to bookworms entering the bookshop.
"Some insects, like Monarch butterflies, everyone is so, so familiar with, but there's a ton of different insects and plants that are native to the area, that people know a little less about," Ploetz said. "Everyone in the area is kind of familiar with woolly bear caterpillars, but they don't know that much about them. When I was a kid, I used to think these caterpillars were super fun. They're so weird-looking and they're fuzzy and they kind of look a little scary, but they're actually completely harmless. Kids can pick them up and examine them."
When touched, the woolly bear caterpillar curls into a furry little ball. Legend has it the wider the band of rusty orange between the caterpillar's black tips, the milder coming winter will be. That legend was cemented in the collective conscience in 1948, when Dr. C.H. Curran, curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History, predicted the coming winter's weather by collecting many woolly bear caterpillars and examining their rust bands, and published his forecast through a friend at The New York Herald Tribune.
"I wanted (a name) that kind of builds that association between books and plants. I want to have a lot of books about gardening, about the natural world, for readers of all ages, but especially for kids, because I think it's important to get interested in that from a young age," Ploetz said.
Behind a honeycomb glass wall and to the right, Woolly Bear Book visitors will find the store's adult section, which includes a wall brimming with books like Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," Nick Pyenson's Spying On Whales" and Bill Gates' "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster." He also has copies of Douglas W. Tallamy's book, "Nature's Best Hope," which the bookstore owner recommends.
The nature section grows alongside shelves filled with sci-fi celebrity Brandon Sanderson's tomes, Bram Stoker's "Dracula," and other science-fiction and fantasy titles. A wide selection of popular female authors Colleen Hoover and Emily Henry's books are on display, along with titles like "James," by Percival Everett; "Mysteries of Pittsburgh," by local author Michael Chabon; and "The Testaments," by Margaret Atwood.
As a lifelong reader (sparked, like many Millenials, by the Harry Potter series), Ploetz appreciates the importance of early reading, and has an entire section devoted to babies and kids, middle-grade, and young adult titles. Among them: several Dr. Seuss and Bluey books; "Matilda," and other books by Roald Dahl; the Percy Jackson series; and everything by Sarah J. Maas.
"I want to carry a lot of classics and almost, like, vintage books that people see and they're like, 'I forgot about that, but I want my kid to read that, too,'" he said, holding out "The Phantom Tollbooth," by Norton Juster, and "Redwall," by Brian Jaques, two books that impacted him as a young reader. "Many of the books that I carry now are ones that I grew up reading. And then there are new series that have come out recently."
In the age of Amazon and online book-sellers, at a time when s caution people are reading less than ever, why open a brick-and-mortar bookstore?
"I don't know where the reading-is-dead-thing comes from," Ploetz said. "Having worked in publishing, I can definitely tell you that people are reading more now than ever. We're definitely selling books at a greater rate than ever before. And that's not just eBooks, it's also physical books. People are buying new books. During COVID, there was a huge increase in reading. I know some industries suffered, but publishing was doing super well."
Printed books will always need a show floor, which is how Ploetz referred to his space, a place where people can walk in, touch titles, discover books the algorithm wouldn't recommend, and ask for help finding their next read from a reader himself.
"I will always go straight to the bookstore if I'm ever visiting a new city. I think it gives you a different side of the city. So my hope, too, is that people visiting Carnegie will stop down here, grab a coffee, grab a sandwich, just come over and look around. I'll be carrying some local products to try to show off some of the people who are making food and art in the area," Ploetz said.
He envisions Woolly Bear working with the Andrew Carnegie Free Library just up the hill to host local author book readings and signings, collaborating with local businesses like Apis Meadery and Carnegie Coffee Company to host book club gatherings, educating the public about the parking lot's eco-friendly rain garden, and supporting the other shops along Main Street. Ploetz also looks forward to working with his guests to curate the shop's selection, tailoring it to the tastes of Carnegie residents and visitors.
"This isn't just another bookshop," Ploetz said. "This is a bookshop with a mission, and there's somebody behind the counter who really wants to get people interested in these particular topics and hopes to spread it by selling books."
Woolly Bear Books is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Shop online 24/7 at woollybearbooks.com, and connect with the indie bookstore on Instagram
