MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — South Minneapolis is home to Meg Niesen. So when she decided to open a bookshop, it was only fitting she chose the Hale neighborhood.
"That's really what I want for this and why I started this here is to just be able to authentically, genuinely be like, 'Welcome to my home. You're welcome here. This is a space for you to be yourself,'" Niesen said.
Personal touches can be found all around the new and used bookshop, called The Irreverent Bookworm. Niesen said the name reflects their position of not taking themselves too seriously.
The magic room includes everything from tarot decks to crystal balls. The kids' room features a floral mural painted by Niesen.
All of the decorations, cozy furniture and a majority of the books are secondhand.
"We try to have this balance between a neat, clean bookstore and kind of that older feeling of the rundown bookstore that's mostly secondhand... big, comfy chairs," Niesen said. "That's the kind of bookstore I loved as a child. So that's what I wanted to create with this and people respond to that."
Encouraged by her partner to pursue her dream of owning a bookshop, Niesen opened The Irreverent Bookworm in 2019.
"I think over every phase of my life, books have always been the thing that carried me through and that I carried with me whenever I moved. The book boxes were the first one, like priority, into the house immediately," Niesen said.
The Irreverent Bookworm survived the pandemic and will celebrate its five year anniversary in September.
"I'm a neurodivergent, Queer bookseller, who loves Minneapolis and is just happy to be here," Niesen said. "I think this bookstore has helped shape my authenticity around my identity. When I first opened up the bookstore... if you go way back, it wasn't really LGBTQIA-forward. I was just like, we're woman-owned and I had some Pride flags around. I think being in the community and getting so much love from the community really gave me the courage to come out more, and more, and more so. I think this store is very integrated into my own identity being out there for the world to see because I've always been who I am. But this has been a very cohesive journey for me in the shop."
The Irreverent Bookworm's annual giant clearance sale and Pride celebration will take place Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30 during normal business hours.
There will be hundreds of books available for $1 or less. The event will also include snacks and free Pride flags.
The Irreverent Bookworm
5163 Bloomington Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55417
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