Huntsville book seller opens brick and mortar shop

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. ( WHNT ) — When Lady Smith and Christina Tabereaux cut the ribbon on their bookstore, it was a moment nearly a decade in the making.

The Snail on the Wall, founded by Smith in 2017, has been a bookstore without a store for the last seven years. The company would sell books through pop-up events and online. As the business continued to grow so did the workload.

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Around a year and a half ago, Christina Taberaux joined Smith as owner and the two have continued to grow the business, leading to the opening of the brick-and-mortar shop on Wellman Avenue.

The grand opening saw people flood to the shop.

"I'm completely overwhelmed that people were waiting at the door, it means so much," said Smith. "This is a risky thing to do but it makes us feel great that people are excited about it."

Opening an independent bookstore can be risky in a world filled with big box bookstores and online shopping, but Taberaux said the shop can offer something unique to its customers.

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"We know that customer when they walk in the door, we always joke that it's a little like Norm from Cheers the TV show a while ago where that person walks in the door we know them, we know what they like when we are ordering books we can look at that and say 'oh so and so, so and so's gonna love this one,'" said Taberaux.

The Snail on the Wall plans to host regular events featuring bestselling writers at the new shop.

The store is located at 816 Wellman Ave NE, Huntsville, AL 35801.