I (Heart) STL

Javier and I have visited both LA and DC in the last few months on business, which included visits to the bookstores in those communities. Each time I've returned I've come back with even more love for St. Louis, although in different ways. See, I grew up in Houston, went to college in Austin, and moved to St. Louis after graduating. And that was about 12 years ago, when Austin was still cool. People, usually St. Louis natives, are generally shocked when I tell them I chose St. Louis over Austin. But I did. And do. Anyway, I've been wondering if self-loathing is characteristic of just St. Louisans or if it's to be found among most natives. When I think of my friends who still live in Houston, I don't remember hearing them slag on their city, same with extended family members I have who grew up and live elsewhere--Detroit, DC, even Dallas (and who but them LIKES Dallas?)

When we came back from LA, we were full of inspiration about what we could do with our store, just from seeing the stores there. We got a lot of confirmation about our vision. On the one hand you want to be unique in your ideas, but on the other it's nice to see them in practice and to see that they appear to work! We LOVED the stores we saw there and immediately recognized what parts we could take from them and what parts we have no use for. On the plane ride back I was thinking about all of the amazing things there are in St. Louis, already, and that as we continue to shape our store, that it will be a part of this movement. And St. Louis accomplishes all of this with a population of just 1, 344,000 for the city and the county. (And I include the county in these numbers because creativity does not stop at the line 200 feet from our store, despite what some folks say, and the city and county are undeniably linked, i.e. every person on staff works in the county but lives in the city, and spends money in both. But this really is a whole 'nother post.) Anyway, it's not really fair to compare our accomplishments to, say, Chicago (pop. 2,862,000) or LA (pop. 3,845,000), when they have just SO MANY MORE people to pull from, and these numbers don't include their surrounding counties. We have amazing artists (graphic, "high", comic, crafty, etc...), coffee shops, bars, boutiques (affordable for some and affordable for many), literary journals, wine bars, music venues, and on and on...

I love St. Louis.
--Kelly