Winona may be a smaller town outside of the cities, but it has a lot to offer. I love Winona for many reasons, but I thoroughly enjoy how Winona protects its smaller businesses like Mugby Junction.
It’s a nice change of pace instead of seeing restaurant and coffee chains on every corner. While exploring Winona, I found a new bookstore downtown that I highly recommend checking out: Chapter 2 Books.
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- Photo from the Chapter 2 Books website
I heard about this store from a friend who walked by. He knew how much I loved books, so he told me about it. As an added bonus, he saw a cat lounging in the window. I pretty much squealed with happiness because cats are my favorite. I brought a couple friends with me to check this place out.
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- Photo from The Winona Daily News
As soon as you walk into the store, cats will greet you. If you have an allergy to cats, this place may not be for you. I love cats and I think they compliment book browsing perfectly, so I was thrilled. It’s a very small store, but the amount of bookshelves in it is overwhelming, and the books are affordable, especially on a college student budget.
Discounted books are located at the front of the store. There is a wide arrangement of sections including romance, fiction, non-fiction and several cookbooks. There are also records in one section of the store so if you own a record player those are cool to check out.
Right by the records is the comic book section. Each individual comic is 50 cents and graphic novels are half price. There are also older toys located near the comic books. That’s fun to check out, especially because I recognize most of the toys that I found. I tend to collect action figures and random trinkets so I perused that section of the store.
There’s also a display case with older comics and action figures.
As I mentioned earlier, there are two cats located in the store. They are super friendly so even if you’re not a cat lady like myself, you will still find joy in seeing the cats wander around. Don’t worry about them hissing or scratching you. Mostly they will rub up against your legs while you walk because they want attention.
It’s important not to forget small businesses because Winona has a nice variety of them to meet the needs of college students. Give a little attention and support to these businesses because they would really appreciate it, and they’re unique!
Chapter 2 Books is great for browsing or if you’re looking for a quiet place to search for what you want with an animal by your side. The shop also has a really nice and organized website if you’re looking for more information about the store, their new arrivals or even selling your own books and records.
