ROSCOE VILLAGE — Once upon a time — actually back in September — Erika VanDam announced her plans to open an independent bookstore in Roscoe Village before the start of the holiday shopping season.
And lo, like a heroine in one of the fairytales that now lines the shelves of VanDam's RoscoeBooks, she gets her happy ending on Saturday, when the shop welcomes its first customers at the stroke of 10 a.m.
"I'm very excited. Nervous, but excited," VanDam said. "It feels like a lot happened at the tail end. There is much I won't know until we do open."
As word about her venture spread this past fall, VanDam said a steady stream of passersby stopped to peek in the windows, straining to catch a glimpse of the store as it took shape behind papered glass.
"We invited them to come in," she said. "People just seem so excited. The response that we've gotten from the neighborhood has been amazing."
In addition to her initial order of 9,000 books, some of which have yet to arrive, VanDam is stocking greeting cards, calendars and other gift items, including children's onesies from Brooklyn-based Out of Print, which emblazons its t-shirts with the titles and covers of famous books.
VanDam's favorite feature of the shop — besides the books, she clarified — is a mural she commissioned by Heather Gentile Collins, an artist who happens to live around the corner. The painting's central element is a sprawling tree, the sort a person could sit under and, as the mural encourages, "get lost in a book."
RoscoeBooks, 2142 W. Roscoe St., will be open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday.
Swing by for the official grand opening celebration, 3-6 p.m. Saturday. VanDam promised refreshments, including beer from Begyle Brewing.
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