DEAR READERS,

This Summer marks our 5th year of slinging books and building our community together with our favorite people ? the readers of Central Wisconsin. Celebrate with us at our 5th Year Anniversary Block Party on August 1st!

Sometimes it feels like we?ve been here forever, other times it feels like we just opened last week. We joke that the bookstore can feel a bit like a liminal space where time doesn?t really work the same way, but luckily, we have a ton of other options to help keep us grounded in this reality.

Some are pretty easy to track, like how the $7,000 we first put into the bookstore has grown into almost $350,000 in total assets. Or the over 70,000 books we?ve sold, amounting to over 1 million dollars! We can also look to the 15 booksellers and interns we?ve worked with over the years ? shoutout to Taylor, who was our first bookseller all the way back in 2022!

The 150 different events we?ve hosted over the last 5 years are kind of mind-boggling, but we like to stay busy! Around 50 of those were events we held with authors, which means 50 new bookstore friends we?ve had the pleasure of getting to know. The 8 Boozy Book Fairs were a blast, and even though I don?t have good numbers for this I can safely say the thousands of people we?ve met through these are some of our absolute faves.

While these numbers are all fine and good, they don?t mean nearly as much as the way the Stevens Point area community has welcomed us in with open arms. And yes, I?m counting the one time we got protested because we had over 25 people compared to their 5 standing outside the store. We?ve been able to support many different groups, schools, and organizations since we opened, with around $25,000 in money and books going to worthy causes. Finally, to the untold number of readers who have walked through our store over the years, a number I couldn?t even begin to track ? thank you! You?re the reason we?ve been able to keep the doors open and grow as much as we have, and you?re the reason we try our best every day. We?re nothing without our readers.

The future isn?t always very clear, especially in the big 2026, but if the next 5 years are anything like the last then I can?t be anything but grateful.

Yours,

The Bound to Happen Booksellers