Beyond Bookstores (formerly Storybrand) is a one-hour podcast hosted by Steve Wax and Lisa Uhrik exploring the work of extraordinary bookshops and booksellers as they build passionate communities and innovate strategies for long-term sustainability and growth.
Steve and Lisa were paired for pre-gathering conversations ahead of the first Reimagining Bookstores convening in 2021 and have been meeting near-weekly since, trying to understand what indie stores need for success in our challenging and rapidly changing environment.
Their deep-dive conversations with industry experts and pioneers, the full archive of which can be found above, have illuminated some of the forefront practices helping neighborhood shops to think outside the boxes of traditional bookselling and thrive.
Click the list icon at the top right of the video above to see the full playlist of previous episodes. You can also see them all in list form here.
Below is an end of the year letter Steve and Lisa sent out with some highlights from, and an overview of, their 2025 programming:
After a great 2024, where highlights included an in depth conversation about City Lights with Paul Yamazaki, rich and real insights from Baldwin & Co. with DJ Johnson in NOLA, publishing and bookshop perspectives with Vicki DeArmon, the PBS world of bookseller education with Eileen Dengler and Wanda Jewell, innovative models with Timothy Don of Clio’s in CA and Floyd from Libreria in England, insights from Plenty Bookshop in TN and more, 2025 was another banner year for great conversations.
We loved the calm insights of Cal Crosby of The King’s English and Brainfood Books. His heart for this work left us in tears. He’s taken his childhood and turned it into life-giving good work. He also knows an awful lot about this industry. He’s the generous mentor to many and is still a humble learner too. His insights around everything from curation to staff culture were powerful.
Donna Paz and Mark Kauffman offered practical insights and philosophical ones as well — this duo has helped hundreds of bookshops get their start and is still providing this needed education and support — all while running one of the best bookshops in America. Story and Song and their foundation have a schedule of events that would make any cruise director proud. And their impact on their community is profound. What a gift they are to all of us!
Donna Paz and Mark Kauffman
What a treasure Mitch Kaplan is! We knew having the Books & Books founder on would be a walk through early beginnings of the current independent bookstore movement to the present — but we weren’t prepared for the ways his characteristic warmth and generosity would be peppered with practical behind the scenes insight as well. His was a power hour for sure.
Andy Weiner — 45 year veteran of Abrams and author — quietly offered his insights gleaned from supporting bookshops and booksellers and authors for decades. Filled with surprising angles, he first celebrated what it is that we do in offering reading to people, grounding us in the importance of our work as a collective. He also had several practical tips that changed my life — like putting a monetary value on various activities so that we can claim them as part of Coop.
Andy Weiner (left)
Darryl Peck, former owner of Right On Books and current owner of a bookstore in Lakeville, CT, was a trove of practical pointers. Packing our time with value statement after statement, his deep experience as a successful retail entrepreneur (multiple market segments) coupled with his love of feeding readers, made for one of the most watched and re-watched episodes of the year.
And the trick is to teach your staff to see the same things. You can look at a customer and read on their face when they really, actually do have a question, or when they’re confused, or when they’re looking for something. And the trick is to go up to them at that moment and go, ‘Can I help you find something?’. You wouldn’t believe what percentage of people say yes to that question, when they say no to ‘Can I help you?’ It’s a very different reaction. – Darryl Peck
Interviews with Praveen Madan, Amanda Hall and Stephanie Denton were so powerful we dedicated two episodes to unpack Kepler’s insights on livable wages, events, and being a successful 70 year community partner, survivor and innovator in the world of bookselling. And then we added a third episode where Amanda and Lisa Uhrik talked about nonprofit models and unpacked all they had learned so far.
Praveen Madan, Amanda Hall, Stephanie Denton
Scott Glenn unpacked an innovative Coop idea that got us all thinking about his white paper on the subject.
And we can’t forget the scintillating Jason Rice — author, photographer and builder of bookshops through his work with Baker & Taylor and Ingram. Back in February this veteran builder of book communities warmed our hearts with bookshop and buying strategy. His insights were profound.
In a world full of noise, these are reflective conversations — worth leaning in — as we dove more deeply with these deeply experienced leaders. The line-up for 2026 is already full of great surprises: bookshop leaders, IBA leaders, and more.
It’s a world where literacy has become, perhaps, the top issue. With fewer readers today than at any time in the past 100 years, our work has never been more important. And we are working in ways that can bring healing and hope to our fractured nation.
Thank you for your collaboration and support as we build this archive of great thought — a valuable repository for all of us to share in our quest to build readers and communities. We’re committed to building bookstores and bookshops for impact that is beyond those walls.
With warmth and respect,
Lisa and Steve
Beyond Bookstores