The story begins for a bookstore in Columbia’s Five Points. Here’s when it officially opens

Five Points is set to turn the page. Literally.

All Good Books, which will offer new books from authors both famous and obscure, as well as coffee, beer and wine, is set to have a grand opening event at noon Thursday, March 2, at 734 Harden St. in Five Points. The independent bookstore is located in a space that once was home to the Thirsty Parrot bar. It is right next door to the Swiff luxury streetwear store.

The independent bookshop was announced in late 2022, and the team of owners behind the store used crowd-funding, via a Kickstarter campaign, to help fund renovations for the space at 734 Harden. The effort was a roaring success: All Good Books had a goal of $60,000 for the Kickstarter, and it ended up receiving nearly $78,000 in donations to get the 3,000-square-foot shop up and running.

Clint Wallace, a tax law professor at the University of South Carolina and a co-owner of All Good Books, said the overwhelming initial support the store received via crowd-funding was a seeming nod toward Columbia’s desire for a large, independent bookstore downtown.

“I think it was a great proof-of-concept that people are really excited about and want an independent bookstore in Columbia,” Wallace said. “We set a very ambitious goal with the Kickstarter, but it was a goal that would raise money for us to invest in the best version of an independent bookstore with a lot of shelves that we could fill with a lot of cool books.”

All Good Books will get going with a host of nonfiction and fiction books, including offerings from bestselling authors such as Gillian Flynn, as well as numerous tomes from regional and even local authors. (During a recent soft opening visit, a reporter from The State picked up a copy of “The Potlikker Papers,” the seminal history of food in the modern South from author John T. Edge.)

The store, which features a clean, colorful aesthetic set off by gleaming hardwood floors, also has a large sitting space in the back, and a children’s section and reading area in the middle of the store. And there is a small cafe in the space, offering hot and cold coffee, hot and iced tea, a selection of beer and wines, and more.

“We are ready to go with all of that,” Wallace said. “We have been practicing our barista skills. Really, it’s a pretty narrow menu in terms of the coffee side. It’s really the things we like to drink while we are reading.”

Columbia’s Jared Johnson, who has helped shepherd public mural projects and book-related initiatives in the capital city, is leading a video project for All Good Books called the Soda City Series. The hope is that it spurs conversations about books and reading in Columbia.

“It’s a collection of city leaders and popular individuals from Columbia who will sit down and have a conversation with each other about the book of their choice, the topic of their choice,” Johnson said. “It will be a way for people to get to know the store and the individuals participating in the series a little bit better.”

Johnson said entries from the Soda City Series will roll out online periodically during coming months.

All Good co-owner Ben Adams has experience in the book-selling world. He opened Odd Bird Books in the Main Street Arcade Mall about three years ago. He closed that shop earlier this year and joined forces with All Good. The 300-square-foot Odd Bird space in the Arcade Mall was tiny compared to the spacious new shop on Harden Street.

“We are scaling up in a big way,” Adams told The State. “It’s a different world. I got a lot of experience out of Odd Bird, but this is a completely different animal. This is so much different (than the smaller Odd Bird space) in so many ways.”