Bemidji bookstore marks Independent Bookstore Day with giveaways, coffee cart

Giveaways, a coffee cart and book-themed handmade goods will turn Four Pines Bookstore into a downtown draw on Saturday as Bemidji joins a national push to keep readers shopping local.

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 102 3rd St. NW, the shop will mark Independent Bookstore Day with daylong sales and special promotions. Sota Sips will bring a coffee cart from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Bear Creek Creations will add handmade, book-themed items that give the store a more festival-like feel than a normal shopping Saturday.

Independent Bookstore Day began in 2013 as a nationwide celebration of locally owned bookstores, and this year’s event is expected to be the largest yet. The American Booksellers Association says about 2,000 member bookstores will take part on Saturday, April 25, up from 1,600 in 2025. That puts a small Bemidji storefront in the middle of a much bigger retail story: independent shops are using one day to remind customers that bookselling is still a local business, not just a national chain category.

Four Pines opened in June 2021 after owner Gina Grinde noticed a lack of access to reading in the area. Since then, the store has built its identity around being Bemidji’s local independent bookstore since 2021 and, as it describes itself, the first bookstore on the Mississippi River. It also highlights Minnesota and Indigenous authors, giving shoppers a place to find titles that reflect the region and its readers.

The timing matters for downtown Bemidji, where a day like this can generate foot traffic that reaches beyond the front door. Independent Bookstore Day is one of Four Pines’ favorite days because it celebrates the relationship between reader and retailer, and because every purchase helps keep an independent bookstore in the local retail mix. For a small downtown business, the day is both a sales event and a reminder that bookstores can serve as gathering places, not just shelves and cash registers.