Garrettsville’s indie bookstore celebrates 15 years

For the past 15 years, Ellen Eckhouse of the Village Bookstore in Garrettsville has offered book lovers from all over Portage County a warm welcome, lively conversation and personalized book recommendations. The bookstore has continued as a local landmark, surviving the 2014 Garrettsville fire that burned down several small businesses just across the street and is now persevering through the Covid-19 crisis.

The opportunity to begin the Village Bookstore came back in 2005 when Eckhouse’s husband and his business partner bought the building. When they asked her if she wanted to open a bookstore in the empty space below their office, Eckhouse’s response was, “Of course, who doesn’t?”