Read on and on

Mills College Weekly

The Laurel Book Store is a small space crammed with books, ranging from fiction to cookbooks.

Somewhere among all those books you will find owner Luan Stauss, who opened the store on Sept. 15, 2001.

Her intent was to introduce a bookstore into the Laurel district, where she is an active neighborhood resident.

“I live here, I wanted to walk to work and there was a definite need,” Stauss said. “Every neighborhood needs a bookstore in my opinion.”

Although Strauss has been working in books for many years, most recently with the Scholastic Bookfairs, this is her first business endeavor.

“I got a small business loan and help from lots and lots of friends,” she said. “We built all of the fixtures, painted, and now the Laurel has a bookstore.”

The goal of the Laurel Book Store is to serve as a general neighborhood bookstore.

Through special ordering she gets a sense of what the customers like. “I strive to carry what people want,” Stauss said.

Since the bookstore’s opening, they have put roughly 950 people on their mailing list.

The shelves in the middle of the store can be pushed aside to make room for up to 30 people when hosting events, she said.