Sip, Read, & Stay: Vintage Books & Wine
Curating the perfect blend of stories, sips, and charm, inviting the community to come in and stay a while
Words by Janine Stankus Photos by Eric Morales
Jean Buckner’s dream of opening a bookshop was inspired by Meg Ryan’s iconic character in You’ve Got Mail. The parallels today are there. She’s an equally bubbly and tenacious young woman dealing with the challenges of running a bustling independent book store in the heart of a growing city. But Jean’s store, Vintage, has something Meg Ryan’s didn’t have: good wine.
When building her business plan, Jean needed to find a novel way to subsidize income. In book selling, profit margins are hard-set by publishers and wholesalers, so business growth can be a challenge. For Jean, books and wine were the perfect pairing. “What do you want to do at the end of the evening? You sit on your couch with a glass of wine and read your favorite book,” she explains. “I just thought, ‘what a romantic idea it would be!’”
So after years of scheming, Jean quit her corporate job at Facebook in October 2021, with full support from her team there. But instead of jumping right into retail, she went to work at Bell Springs Winery in Dripping Springs to learn more about Texas wines—which are prominently featured in her book store.
“I think Texas wine still has a stigma…because the industry here is much younger. But now that the winemakers have found out what grows well in the Hill Country and other regions of Texas, they’re producing really phenomenal wine,” says Jean. “So, once I started down that path, it became important to me to champion our local winemakers.”
Vintage officially opened in October 2022 in a space that’s almost storybook perfect: the historic Haehnel Building on the corner of East 11th and Waller, featuring soaring ceilings, glamorous carved wood trim, and multiple reading rooms and alcoves. Jean and her mother raided Austin antique stores and estate sales to fill the place with cozy and eclectic vintage pieces.
The book selection consists largely of new releases across genres. She balked at advice given to indie booksellers to either specialize or stock mostly “backlisted” books with proven track records. “I decided that if you’re coming to our store, it’s probably because you’re meeting with friends, you’re here to enjoy yourself,” Jean explains. “So I thought people would most enjoy being able to browse new releases and bestsellers.”
Books chosen as staff picks also come with recommendations for wine pairings, which Jean likens to tasting notes for wine: to provide inspiration for the experience. “For example, if you want a really intense, high fantasy novel, you’re going to want a big, bold red. Something with a lot of flavor notes that are very interesting, very deep,” Jean suggests. “Whereas if you’re reading a contemporary romance, you might want something with bubbles or a rosé: something that’s light and fruity.”
The store has also partnered with two women-owned companies to offer curated snacking options: Cultured Grazing Board, which provides gourmet snack boxes, and Fika Table, which provides pastries.
Jean’s vision of creating a cozy neighborhood space that people could actually spend time in has manifested brilliantly, judging from the steady stream of clientele. “I think the most rewarding part is seeing the community built here,” Jean acknowledges. Something a customer said to her at a recent event stuck with her. “There’s never a shortage of things to talk about when you’re surrounded by books—and what a great way to meet new people.” We’ll sip to that!
Book Club
To meet growing demand for book club membership, Vintage has partnered with the local woman-owned BOXT wine company to launch a new program called Book Club in a BOXT. Each month, members get a new release book, along with the BOXT wine of their choice delivered to their door. There’s a Zoom meet-up and Facebook group for facilitating virtual discussions, and members can choose to organize smaller in-person meet-ups of their own.
Free Books
While the store currently sells mostly new releases, Jean has plans to open up a section featuring a curated selection of thrifted books at a reasonable price point, and they also host a neighborhood lending library cart where people can donate or pick up for free.
Contact:
1101 E 11th St.
vintagebooksandwine.com
@vintagebooksandwine
