I went on a trip to Dare!

I recently went on a trip to find the only African American owned bookstore in Orlando. I've lived here for many years and was quite surprised to find that this store has been in existence for 10 years and I had no idea. I set out to find this store and to get a good book (I know like I need more books). Dare Books is owned by the very humble Desmond Reid who has been in the book business for over thirty years. First, it was easy to find as it is off of a main road. Second, the store is bigger on the inside than how it appears from the parking lot. Inside it is broken up into different genres but most of the titles are African American, Afrocentric, and Hispanic. We had a wonderful discussion about the store and the titles he carries (he has a lot of books y’all), the state of the book business and small independently owned book stores. He not only owns the store but he is a publisher as well and is on the brink of closing shop. I was sad to hear that he might be closing the store as soon as next year. As you can imagine it is hard to compete with the likes of Amazon and Barnes & Noble. However, there is a very simple solution. We need to support small businesses with our dollars and our social media capital. The fact of the matter is most small businesses need our support to not only survive but to thrive. Go visit Dare Books, buy a book or two and most importantly tell your friends and family. I plan on going back and will be hosting an event there in the near future. Let's support small business and all things books.

Dare Books is located at 245 N Highway 17-92, Longwood, FL 32750.
Website - www.Darebooks.com

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