Indie bookstore has a new Pierce County shop, ‘romantasy’ book club and writing groups
Gig Harbor readers, rejoice: another independent bookstore is moving downtown.
Invitation Bookshop announced its upcoming relocation to 3119 Judson St., next to Il Lucano Ristorante Italiano, on Facebook March 2. The store, which sells new books, is currently located at 5125 Olympic Dr., which owner Allyson Howard described as “a little off the beaten path” and an area that doesn’t get significant foot traffic.
“The waterfront really is the historic and community heart of Gig Harbor,” Howard told The News Tribune in a phone interview March 6. “And when you look at the role of bookstores in communities ... so much of what we do and so much of our mission as a bookstore is tied to community.”
The store’s name comes from the first poem in Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends” poetry collection, “Invitation,” which Howard said is the way she views the relationship between book and reader. She and her husband Jason opened the bookshop in September 2020, according to their website.
The space on Judson Street opened up after national boating supply company West Marine closed its Gig Harbor location, according to Howard. Invitation Bookshop’s move will bring them closer to two used bookstores in downtown Gig Harbor, No Dearth of Books at 7803 Pioneer Way and Gig Harbor Book Company at 3226 Harborview Dr.
She doesn’t have an exact opening date yet, but customers will be able to continue visiting their Olympic Drive location until at least April 2, she told The News Tribune in a text message. They’ll close temporarily for the move and reopen between April 12 and 17. The store will share updates through their newsletter and on their website and social media.
The new space is going to be about 1,000 square feet bigger, Howard said. Their sales floor isn’t expanding by much, but the new location will have a small dedicated event space for book clubs, writing groups, storytelling and craft sessions for kids, and more.
Having that separate space will allow customers to browse the store while the bookshop hosts events, community outreach manager Michaela Devine told The News Tribune. Right now, staff have to roll the bookcases away to clear space for events.
They’ll be able to host events during store hours in the new space, not just after, according to Howard.
And there’s a whole lot of events coming down the pipeline.
The store will host a pre-launch party April 17 for local author Marie Bostwick’s book “The Book Club for Troublesome Women,” a novel set in the 1960s about a woman in northern Virginia who invites three other ladies to a book club and sparks “a feminist revolution in her buttoned-up suburb,” according to the author’s website. Tickets are required and available on the bookshop website.
Tacoma-based author Mary Boone will host a storytime and craft session at the bookshop on April 19. She’ll read from her picture book “Pedal Pusher” about Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, the first woman to ride a bicycle around the globe.
Invitation Bookshop is also coordinating the third annual South Sound Book Crawl from Saturday, April 26 to Sunday, May 4. Eleven participating bookstores throughout the South Sound will have passports for participants to get stamped at each location. A complete passport earns you 20% off a single purchase at each store for the next year, and a chance to win a grand prize swag bag. It’s free to participate.
Other upcoming events include a romantasy book club launching this summer, a preview event in mid-May where customers will have a chance to pre-order summer releases after listening to staff present their favorite picks, and a writers’ group recruitment event where people can meet groups looking for new members, according to Devine.
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
