Bookish Market

Date & Location: Held twice yearly at City Foundry STL

Overview: Bookish Gift Market began as a way to gather book loving girlies and connect our community while supporting local small gift businesses. Bookish market hosts over 30 small local businesses to sell along Foundry Way at City Foundry STL and is anchored by a book sale hosted by Novel Neighbor.

In Depth: In 2024, after creating and hosting vendor markets for ten years, we found that the retail sales community in St. Louis and around the country was focused on trends, themes and products that connected with specific communities. In response to this consumer interest and a growing relationship with Novel Neighbor, a local book store we built Bookish Gift Market.

Starting with just twenty vendors on a Sunday afternoon, the market quickly gained digital momentum. We saw thousands of likes, comments and shares on a minimum number of posts before the first event and welcomed over 500 people to the first market. Over the last two years the market has grown to 30+ vendors with over 1,000 people in attendance. Events like Bookish market support every partner involved. This includes the small business community that comes to sell their products, Novel Neighbor the local books store and City Foundry STL, our host. By bringing an event like Bookish to a larger development with complimentary tenants, we align our audience with theirs and everyone benefits from the event.