For the love of books: Little Professor moving to new location as it celebrates 50 years

For its 50th “birthday,” the Little Professor bookstore in downtown Homewood is getting a new home.

The local stop for readers is moving down the block to the former Nadeau building, located at 2738 18th St. S.

“Everything will feel very updated,” owner Meredith Robinson said.

The location will offer new outdoor space, an expanded children’s area, a second floor and more, Robinson said. It is envisioned as a place where customers can come not only to purchase new books, but to meet friends, enjoy a cup of coffee and sit to read or study, Robinson said.

The space will be able to host between 50 and 100 people, Robinson said, which is helpful given the popularity in the store’s events, from book clubs to special events like Harry Potter trivia night. Designated parking will also be a much-needed addition for Little Professor customers, she said, and having more space will mean not having to cap book clubs. The clubs have become the store’s most popular offering, a place to connect and make friends.

When Robinson and her husband Jonathan bought Little Professor in 2020, they began looking for a long-term partner to build out a new space. So when Nadeau moved into the former Cahaba Cycles location nearby, the furniture store’s previous space became available, much to the Robinsons’ excitement.

Being across from the Valley Hotel is a great location and the design of the store’s new building will help beautify the city even more, Robinson said.

Aesthetically, in addition to more open space, the new location will offer new shelves similar to  those at their Pepper Place store, all-natural surfaces like marble and wood, Robinson said. The changes will make the bookstore more “warm and inviting,” she said.

Robinson said she hopes people not only come to buy books but to sit in the space, to “reset [their] day” and to use it as a space to decompress.

The square footage is about the same, but with less back-of-house space for offices and storage, it will look like more, Robinson said. There will be about 20% more inventory and double the amount of seating space. The children’s area will also have expanded inventory, she said.

The pillar of Little Professor is to be a community hub, Robinson said, not just a place of transaction.

“You walk in and you want to sit and stay,” Robinson said.

Kathleen Wylie has been working at Little Professor for a little more than eight years and is excited to see the store move into its new home.

“I think it will be a good move,” Wylie said.

As customers come into the existing location and hear about the move, they’re excited as well, Wylie said.

There will be some jobs opened up with the new location, Robinson said, though the core team from the existing Homewood location is transferring over.

Having the recently opened second location at Pepper Place in downtown Birmingham will be helpful during the transition. While there are no plans to have interruptions in the service in Homewood, Robinson said Pepper Place will be available if need be. The store will also continue offering local delivery within five miles. The downtown location has served as an inspiration for what the owners want with the new Homewood location, Robinson said.

“It feels like a space where we accomplished what we’re trying to do in Homewood,” she said.

The plan is for the new space to open in early spring, Robinson said, but the move itself is 50 years in the making.

Little Professor began at what is now The Cottage Basket, before moving to a building that has since been replaced by the Valley Hotel. In 2017, they moved to their current 18th Street location.

People come in to get a book, but they know they’ll be helped by someone who also loves books, Wylie said. Every staff member is knowledgeable and loves reading, she said.

“I really do believe it’s the human element,” Wylie said.

Not only do people connect with staff members, but they also connect with others. Wylie said the staff recently saw a man ask a woman on a date in the store.

“It was so cute,” she said.

The store is a “fun, positive” place, she said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it served as a respite not only from lockdowns and the loneliness of the pandemic, but a break from the television, Wylie said.

“People needed books more than ever,” Wylie said.

Robinson said the store has always enjoyed a base of “legacy” customers, in addition to longtime employees like Wylie. So when the Robinsons bought the store, they were “building on a rich history that was already there,” she said.

The “currency” in business, especially at Little Professor, is relationships with customers, Robinson said. The store has become a bit like the bar in “Cheers,” a place “where everybody knows your name.”

“Even if you’re just running in for coffee,” Robinson said.

The hope is that customers walk out feeling brighter than they did before, she said. Customers aren’t being served by an online algorithm but by their fellow Homewood residents.

“It’s that relational currency,” Robinson said.