Woman whose family owns Books-a-Million opens independent book store in Charleston. What it offers

Anyone who predicted independent bookstores would be done in by Amazon probably needs to think again.

Last year, 256 new independent bookstores opened, the fourth year in a row the number exceeded 200, according to the American Booksellers Association.

Now comes another to South Carolina, Ladybird Books on King Street, Charleston’s main downtown shopping street. It occupies an Art Moderne building on the corner of Liberty Street, where Quicksilver once sold surf wear.

In the early 1900s, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows met in the upper floors and rented the first story to Charleston Crockery Co., which later became China Hall.

Owned by longtime book blogger Summer Anderson, Ladybird Books features the traditional mix of books — literary fiction, books by Southern writers (many of whom live not far away), memoir, non-fiction and then there’s this; a section on how to be human, where books highlight living with empathy, curiosity and heart, Anderson said.

There’s a record section, yes vinyl, paired with books about musicians and a mashup of books about the South like Garden & Gun’s former contributing editor Julia Reed’s books (among her books are But Mama Always Puts Vodka in Her Sangria and Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns, and Other Southern Specialties) with the Gullah Geechee Cookbook.

“When the lights go out at night I like to think they’re having a conversation with each other,” Anderson said.

There’s stationary, including Cambridge Imprint, the English company that makes patterned paper and home ware that Anderson saw when she visited her sister in England, and they toured 36 bookstores in 76 hours.

She loves to cook and has stocked knives with decorative handles.

“It’s a way for me to share the things I’ve learned along the way,” she said.

The name comes from her ever-present nickname for close friends and her daughters, Ladybird.

A native of Montgomery, Alabama, Anderson went to Ole Miss and studied sociology, psychology and English. Books have always been her passion, and her family’s. They’re all readers.

She’s lived in Los Angeles and New York and is married to Clyde Anderson, whose grandfather grew a simple newsstand he started as a 14-year-old to the nation’s second-largest book chain, Books-A-Million.

Clyde Anderson is the former CEO of the company and is the founder and managing partner at Anderson Growth Partners.

Summer Anderson said she and her husband and two daughters moved to Charleston when her now-14-year-old daughter started kindergarten and has found a community of readers, both among those who live in the area and those who visit.

She hopes to extend a sense of community to the bookstore, which this weekend will be the bookseller for the Charleston Literary Festival.

“Ladybird is meant to be more than a bookstore,” she said. “I hope it provides a space for connection, delight, and discovery.”