After a three-year hiatus, Visible Voice Books is reopening its doors in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood.
“It’s the same philosophy, same neighborhood and same proprietor — but we’ve doubled our space and centralized our location,” says owner Dave Ferrante, who transformed the Komorowski building on Professor Avenue in Tremont. “We’ve added more magazines, literary gifts and genres. We’re enhancing sections like fiction and cooking — something that’s important in a neighborhood known as a dining destination.”
The additional square footage also has allowed Ferrante to integrate a café. Now, in addition to a rotating array of seasonal wines and craft beer, Visible Voice will offer locally-made pastries from Sweet Tooth Confections, specialty teas and brew-in-house coffee from award-winning, sustainability-minded roaster Gimme! Coffee.
Crust, a full-service Italian restaurant with a bar and seating for 60+, recently opened on the building’s first floor. “Crust was across the street from our old location and people would visit the bookstore after they ordered,” says Ferrante. “In these closer quarters it’s even more tempting to browse the literature at Visible Voice while you’re waiting on a pizza.” There are even plans for the two businesses to share a patio and event space in the future.
When asked why in this age of e-books and online shopping he felt it was important to relaunch a brick-and-mortar store, Ferrante responded, “People tend to purchase specific items online. An independent bookstore lets you serendipitously discover books and authors you may have never have otherwise known you were interested in or existed.”
The store opens to the public on Wednesday, September 27. Its hours are: Wednesday and Thursday, noon-8 p.m.; Friday, noon-9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
For more information, call 216-961-0084 or visit visiblevoicebooks.com.
