WELCOME TO
CLEARY'S BOOKSTORE

 

Hello! We're so happy that you're here! Cleary's is a brand new, woman-owned independent bookstore located on historic main street in Mount Holly, North Carolina. Our mission is to cultivate and support a lifelong love of books and share in the joy of reading with our community (aka our #bookbesties).

Here's what you can expect from us:

• Shelves stocked to bursting with new & used genre fiction for adults, nonfiction, YA & graphic novels, middle grade, and an entire room dedicated to kids books.
• Monthly in-store events and weekly book clubs.
• There's always more to come! Currently we're working on rolling out weekly kids and family story times, monthly subscription boxes, merch, and more!

Whether you're browsing our brick-and-mortar in person or on our website discovering the next book to add to your already overflowing #tbr pile, at Cleary's you’ll find favorites for readers of all ages!

Get reading recommendations on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok @clearysbookstore or delivered directly to your inbox when you subscribe to our newsletter.

We can't wait to read with you!

 

OUR STORY

Hello! I'm Alison and I am the owner of Cleary's Bookstore. Opening my own store has been a dream of mine since I first fell in love with reading, probably while visiting my local library on summer break, finishing as many books as possible to get that coveted personal pizza prize (IYKYK). The feel of a book in your hand, the crisp turn of a fresh page, getting so lost in a story that you look up and realize that you've been reading all day. It's what I love most. And it is that joy that comes from the pages of a book I most want to share with you.

I chose to name the store Cleary's because of the many ways it represents my path as a reader. It is a family name on my husband's side (now my family) who I met while living in Ireland earning my Master's Degree in Publishing. It is also an homage to the great Beverly Cleary, a Pacific NorthWest Lady (like me) who nurtured in so many a lifetime love of literature. As soon as I read Ramona I was hooked and the connection that I had to her stories, relating to her characters, was the spark that ignited my journey as a reader and professional book-hawker.

Like many college graduates whose parents worry what they will be able to do with the English degree they opted to earn, I chose to stick it out with books. Before opening Cleary's I worked at Seattle's OG independent bookstore, University Book Store, and then somehow convinced Penguin Random House's Sasquatch Books to employ me.

Cleary's is a family business and while mine is the face you will mostly see online, my husband Matthew and our black lab Seamus (who also fell in love with books at a young age) are integral to the store's story and success.

My family has roots in the Carolinas, and when Matthew and I decided to uproot ours and move across the country here we didn't realize it at the time, but now know we were coming home.

We're so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful community and overjoyed to be your independent bookstore.

Thanks for reading with us!

XOXO Alison, Matthew & Seamus