New bookstore opens in Royal Arcanum building

NORFOLK — The parking spots in Norfolk’s town center were filled Thursday afternoon, July 3, for the opening of Les Renards & Co.

People packed into the new bookstore located in the Royal Arcanum building with opening day iced tea refreshments.

Used paperbacks are priced anywhere from $3 to $8, used hardcovers are anywhere from $8 to $18, and many new books at full price.

Les Renards & Co’s founder Tricia Deans described going to Barnes & Noble and buying a paperback for $24. “When did that happen?” she asked. This inspired one of the store’s goals of affordability.

For a long time, Deans has been in charge of valuing the books of better value for Norfolk Library’s summer book sale. She explained the library needed another outlet to sell these books. She said, “We have a day to sell them in the library, and we sell quite a few, but it’s only 24 hours. A lot goes back down in the basement.”

Around 30% to 40% of the books now in the store were originally donated to the library for the summer book sale, each marked by a label indicating the sale for the book is for the benefit of the library.

Deans said, “The genesis of this is to give those books a home where people can actually look at them over time and decide whether to buy them.”

The store will be open Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.