OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — “It was sort of what I’d always pictured a store would look like for us if we ever had a store,” said Nicole Wheeler.
Earlier this year, Dundee Book Company started a new chapter.
Co-owners Ted and Nicole Wheeler operated a mobile book cart for a long time, doing pop-up events at local bars and theaters. But the pandemic changed it all.
“We had some online business, we had some great supporters who still had us order books from them throughout 2020. But we were storing all of that in our house while we were all working and going to school in our house," said Nicole.
There wasn’t much room to stock up on inventory, so they started the hunt for a brick-and-mortar location.
“We always just thought that Underwood Street would be a perfect location for a bookstore. So we would talk to other people and try to kind of plant that seed that they should open up the store or somebody should do it. But after a while, it was just kind of a situation where we should either shut up about that or do it ourselves," said Ted.
And that’s exactly what they did.
A historic house came available and Ted and Nicole made the jump.
They increased their book inventory, built all the shelves themselves and opened up in March — on the street they always dreamed about.
Dundee Book Company offers a wide selection — from poetry to books translated from other languages, works by local authors and anything in between.
“We try to be diverse in the offerings that we have and as diverse as possible but also good quality work from a diverse amount of authors," said Nicole.
While books are obviously at the forefront, it’s the community that makes owning the store so worthwhile.
"Being able to have this space where people can just come and find us and find other people who have the same interests has been really life-affirming,” said Nicole.
Dundee Book Company is located at 4915 Underwood Avenue.
Visit their website and Facebook page for more information.
HOURS:
Friday 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
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