The Los Angeles Independent Bookstore Crawl launched its first-ever event over the weekend of July 24-26, 2026.
And reader, it was a hit.
Map: 100 Southern California independent bookstores to visit in 2026
Book lovers did not crawl, they sprinted to the 13 participating bookstores for the inaugural event: Studio City’s Annabelle’s Book Club LA; Westchester’s The Book Jewel; West Hollywood’s Book Soup; Larchmont Village’s Chevalier’s Books; West Los Angeles’s Children’s Book World & CBW Teens & Adults; Santa Monica’s diesel, A Book Store; Culver City’s Malik Books; Montrose’s Once Upon A Time; Manhattan Beach’s pages: a bookstore; Culver City’s The Ripped Bodice; Los Feliz’s Skylight Books; Culver City’s Village Well Books & Coffee; and Pasadena’s Vroman’s Bookstore.
“We overperformed,” said Dan Graham, promotional director for Book Soup and Vroman’s Bookstore, during a phone call on Monday. “There was great enthusiasm; people wanted something like this.”
By Friday evening, Book Soup saw its first completed passport to all 13 bookstores, said Graham. On Saturday morning, which coincided with Vroman’s summer sale, three separate registers had briskly moving lines of 15-20 people or more around the store. Graham compared the event to Christmas.
“It was beyond gangbusters,” agreed Maureen Palacios of Once Upon a Time Bookstore in Montrose. “It was better than Christmas.”
“It was very busy. That’s all I can say. A lot busier than I had anticipated. I mean, whole sections are gone almost,” said Palacios, laughing. “That’s good, and we’re happy to have that so we can reorder for fall and get ready for Christmas!”
The concept was similar to book crawls in San Diego and Seattle: To participate in the crawl’s passport program, attendees could visit any of the bookstores between July 24-26, make a first purchase of at least $10 and receive a Book Crawl Passport and first passport stamp. Then they could continue on to the other bookstores (in any order) and make a purchase of $10 or more at each stop to receive another stamp.
There were prizes and exclusive merch; there were authors doing special signings or acting as guest booksellers; there were books, so many books.
According to data provided by the organizers, the 13 stores gave out more than 2750 passports, and all 325 finisher tote bags (and more than 51 additional people finished and will be sent finisher prizes). The stores reported between 700-1400 additional transactions above a “normal” Friday-Sunday with a nearly 50 percent increase in business.
In person or on social media, people were comparing routes, stores and purchases.
Graham noted that “a lot of people did the crawl in groups,” adding to the festivities and sense of camaraderie.
“I think people want community around something,” said Graham. “Something you can feel good about.”
And are there plans for a second edition? “I’d like to have a day or two before we talk about it,” says Graham, but he’s looking forward to next year.
“Hopefully with more stores,” he said.
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