Six years ago, The Book Gallery, the old and rare bookstore owned and operated for two decades in downtown McKinney, shut its doors for good, citing the declining interest in reading and the rise of corporations, making digital books more and more popular. Ever since then — while many small businesses have come and gone from McKinney’s popular shopping district — no one has attempted opening a traditional independent bookstore.
Until now.
Joey and Ginny Honescko’s wide smiles greet you at the door of their newly launched Neighbor Books on East Louisiana Street. During their soft open, the place was packed with people, and a checkout line snaked around the center displays.
“It’s more of a hard launch than a soft open,” Joey joked during a particularly busy rush. Despite their initial decision to not do any public press outside of their own social media, Neighbor Books opened two weeks ago to streams of people milling about in the two story space, and the official August 10 grand opening hadn’t even been announced yet. “The response has exceeded expectations,” Joey told Local Profile.
Originally believing his dreams were to open a coffee shop, Joey eventually distilled his vision into one idea: a place where people could come together with absolutely nothing in common except for their locale. Having lived in McKinney for a decade, Joey also felt the need to pour back into the community he, Ginny and their daughter Louella found in the downtown area. “With the way Ginny and I have benefited from The Square so much, to give something back to it is so meaningful because we love this place so much,” he said.
With the plethora of coffeeshops already available in downtown McKinney, an obvious alternative popped into Joey’s head.
“One of the most common things we are hearing, especially from people in McKinney, is that this [a bookstore] is what The Square has been missing,” Joey said. “There was a small gap and we were able to fill that gap, and people telling us that repeatedly unsolicited is really cool.”
Not only is Neighbor Books the only traditional independent bookstore in McKinney, it’s the only one for miles until Interbang Books in Dallas or Recycled in downtown Denton.
When asked about this possibly daunting factor, Joey laughed. “It’s intimidating to open a bookstore, to put something into the world you not only hope people respond to, but need them to respond to.” Opening a small business at any point is a formidable venture, but the Honesckos have faced it head on, with “nervousness, but really exciting feelings all the same”.
Joey and Ginny handpick the broad selection of books that range from popular fiction to poetry to self-help. Currently their top sellers are the longtime favorite author Kristin Hannah and the more recently popular Emily Henry.
When asked about their favorite books, Joey chose Gilead, a fictionalized memoir of an Iowan pastor by Marilynne Robinson. Ginny went broader, naming romance and thriller genres as her personal favorites and citing Elin Hilderbrand as her current read. Joey also shared a humorous anecdote about Ginny’s decision to order a large selection of cookbooks, which he voiced his doubts about. “Guess what? They are flying off the shelves,” Joey chuckled at himself. “She was right, and we can laugh about it now.”
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One of the more unique things Neighbor Books offers is a tiered membership program listing several benefits such as forty percent off bestsellers, twenty percent off purchases, free drip coffee, free local delivery and early access to limited-capacity events. Joey heavily emphasized that memberships should not just be beneficial to the company, but also for the customer and the broader community at large.
“At the end of the day, we hope that memberships are something that creates a sense of loyalty, pride and identity for people to not only say that they consume, but that they contribute and are meaningful to their community,” Joey said. Another event that Joey and Ginny are excited to offer are their children’s story times in both English and Spanish. They also plan on partnering with Square event organizers, other downtown businesses, and the McKinney Public Library.
Be sure to support the Honesckos and Neighbor Books Grand Opening on Saturday, August 10, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and follow them on their Instagram and check out their website.
