Black Birch Books celebrates 6 years in Wasilla

A little upstart bookstore in Wasilla recently celebrated a milestone, celebrating six years in business. Black Birch Books recently celebrated not only their anniversary, but also being named Small Business of the Year by the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m super pleased. Super, super pleased,” says owner Taylor Jordan of the honor from the Chamber of Commerce, displaying the actual notification in her store window.

Originally, she opened her bookstore on Main Street in downtown Wasilla off Main Street, later relocating to its current home on Bogard, and offering a larger, more welcoming place that’s safe from school and in a welcoming neighborhood, after recouping from the onset of the pandemic, a sure sign of her ability to endure and thrive.

“During the pandemic, I would sell books out of my garage, on my lawn, whatever was needed.” Doing what is needed is something has been an instrumental part of Jordan’s business, ensuring there is a safe space for creativity, fun, and of course reading, while welcoming anyone who walks through the door.

“Helping people is something I’m very passionate about,” Jordan said.

It is also why Black Birch Books hosts a wide array of events, from Coffee with a Veteran to Drag King/Queen story time, Banned Books to Bible studies. She also has a space exclusively for Alaskan authors.

She said that she plans to continue adding new and unique activities to foster social connection, skill-building, and most of all, a good time with like-minded people. She said her ultimate goal for all her various projects and endeavors around the store is to make a positive impact on the community.

“I don’t censor anything. There is no agenda,” she said, but not afraid to add that the current movement to challenge and remove books from school and public libraries has been good for her business.

“Banning books has been good for independent book stores. We don’t censor what we put on our shelves. We make sure everything is appropriate. Everything is arranged age-by-height, so little kids can’t reach books that might be inappropriate.”

“When people tell me they can’t believe what I’m doing, I say ‘I can’t believe you’re not doing more.’”

And what does she think of making it to this milestone?

“This is huge, absolutely huge,” Jordan said of the store’s anniversary, with no plans of slowing down for the next six years and beyond.