Bonsai Books looks to be a community space as Cheyenne's first indie bookstore in years
Oct. 22—CHEYENNE — There has long been a large, vibrant yellow house on Quincy Road.
Just east of Yellowstone Road and south of Storey Boulevard, it has housed several businesses over the course of its existence, including a sandwich shop and small gym in the '90s. However, it might be best remembered as Doc Martin's Ear, Nose and Throat clinic, which closed in 2022 after more than 20 years in operation.
Today, there are still aesthetic remnants of a doctor's office inside the space — a wrap-around granite counter at the entrance, polished wood floors and a functioning kitchen space toward the rear of the house. Another longtime sight around the office was his daughter, Sarah John, who worked as a nurse in her father's clinic for the past 14 years.
These lingering features, however, are quickly being transformed over the course of many structural and superficial renovations that have been made by John since late June.
One noticeable change is the addition of a painted bonsai tree, designed by local artist James Overstreet, on the exterior of the home. Far more critical, however, are the thousands of books — 1,700 to be exact — that line the bookshelves inside of Cheyenne's newest bookstore, Bonsai Books.
"I go over to Laramie a lot, and I'm like, 'There's three bookstores?'" John said in the store on Wednesday. "That's not even counting the college.
"I have always wanted to have a bookstore. And so my husband's like, 'Well, let's do it.'"
On Wednesday afternoon, John was busy doing inventory on each and every book copy, preparing for yesterday's opening. She has inherited the space from her father and elected to fulfill her dream of owning a bookstore, once again giving the capital city a local store in the process.
She and her mother have been constantly stocking the shelf space since the books first arrived, while John's husband, Brendan, was gearing up to remove the disconnected ice machine from the kitchen area as one of the lingering structural renovations before opening.
Near the center of the room is a small table, two plush blue chairs facing off across a wooden chessboard, the natural light doing most of the work for the light fixtures overhead. There are two small bar spaces at each end of the main room, as the Johns intend to sell coffee and tea from the small cafe area.
Unlike most bookstores, the home-built shelves in Bonsai cling exclusively to the walls. Books of various genres are beginning to occupy the ranks, with a particular emphasis on romance, fantasy, sci-fi, cookbooks and graphic novels, though plenty of new releases are spotted on the wall — a copy of Zadie Smith's "The Fraud" and "Holly," by Stephen King.
The choice to keep shelves on the walls creates an open place that allows customers to browse without having to shuffle past other shoppers in the aisles. More importantly, it's a foundation for what John hopes can become a community space, where, aside from book clubs and author signings, people will feel comfortable hanging around.
"The point of this is for people to have a space where they feel welcome and they can come and talk to us," John said. "Sometimes people just need to get out and have a conversation. That's what we're here for, to be open for conversation about whatever it is that you want to talk about."
Cheyenne has been without a local bookstore selling new copies and releases since Barnes and Noble closed its physical location at 1851 Dell Range Blvd. in May 2022. Bonsai doesn't plan on selling used books, so as not to compete with longtime Cheyenne stores Book Rack and Constant Reader Books.
The nuances of opening a bookstore weren't as difficult as John expected. After consulting with some local bookstores in Laramie, she was put in touch with Ingram Content Group, a wholesaler with programs specifically designed to help curate and supply product to independent booksellers.
Where the difficulty lies for the Johns is in staffing. For now, Sarah and Brendan plan to operate the store on their own, but they will eventually seek additional employees, especially if business becomes too much to handle.
They also plan on carrying a diverse range of books, from literary classics to LGBTQ+ young adult novels, manga and popular authors like John Grisham — her husband's favorite author. Part of that is simply the rule of supply and demand, but it's also important to the owners that people have access to read what they want.
"I'm someone that's 100% open to everything," John said. "There's no reason why we should just listen to one person, one train of thought. Even though some people have their favorite authors, it's always good to branch out and read somebody else because it just improves your life by hearing other people.
"Most of this stuff is fiction, right? But people don't write fiction (that isn't) based on something that's happened to them or to somebody else in their life."
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified Brendan John. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle apologizes for the error.
Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.
