This Saturday, Niche Book Bar, 1937 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., will celebrate its grand opening in conjunction with Independent Bookstore Day. The fun runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will showcase Milwaukee’s first Black-and-female-owned bookstore since The Reader’s Choice, 1950 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., closed in 2017 after 30 years in business.
Niche Book Bar sells primarily Black-authored books from myriad genres, gifts, cards, wine made by Black winemakers, Style Pop coffee, tea, Soul Brew Kombucha and baked goods from Bethmayhem LLC. The shop also serves as a community space that hosts author events, book swaps, storytimes, poetry writing workshops and more.
The opening of Niche Book Bar was an unpredictable journey for owner, Cetonia Weston, that began in 2018. At the time, Weston decided she wanted to open a bookstore and signed up for business classes. In 2019, she quit her full-time job and took part-time jobs to support her family and allow her to focus on the bookshop project as much as possible.
“Work that didn’t take up too much brain space,” says Weston.
She also started organizing Black Author’s Pop Up Book Fair social events at various local venues.
“It was a great introduction to authors in the area as well as the book and business scene in Milwaukee,” says Weston, who was born and raised in Racine. She grew up spending much of her free time at the library, and as a teenager, at bookstores.
“The library was my thing. Barnes and Noble drop-offs were my ‘mall,'” says Weston.
Weston started to explore lease options in the Bronzeville neighborhood, but then Covid hit in March of 2020 and Weston decided to put her bricks-and-mortar dream on hold. Instead, she bought an adult tricycle, hired a carpenter to build a bookshelf on the back of it, and Niche Book Bike mobile business was born.
In the summer of 2021, she started the process of purchasing the building through a Request For Proposal (RFP). It was a long and arduous undertaking, but eventually she closed on the property. However, she faced multiple challenges with unreliable contractors who ghosted the job after minimal work. This significantly delayed the store’s opening.
Now, the business is open and thriving. She is slowly filling in the shelves with inventory. The decor is fresh, bold and clean with some nice touches like an old school card catalog, a bar that was originally a check-out desk in a school library, a lounge for performances and events, and a cozy kids area in the store window featuring books – including Weston’s own publishings – and pillows.
Weston says the help of area businesses, friends and neighbors was crucial to the book bar’s opening. A sign thanking those who volunteered their time and services hangs next to the bar.
“People really came together in here,” says Weston.
Niche Book Bar is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.(Tuesday hours may soon change); Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The grand opening is Saturday, April 26, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
