I came across this list, from the ABA, of the new, indie bookstores that opened up last year.

I scrolled through, looking for places I’d lived. Dover, Delaware has a new bookstore. That’s good. My sister in Delaware is moving to Shanghai and the kids are all grown and almost finally out of little, ol’ Delaware, so I won’t be going back so much, but it’s still good to think that, should I find myself returning, there will be a new bookstore to replace some of the one’s lost (Atlantic Books, I knew him Horatio!).

Then, lo and behold, Tampa! Oxford Exchange opened up near the University of Tampa (where my Delaware sister’s youngest child has applied to attend).

If you clicked on the link, you’ll see that they are really just advertising their food.

But I sent my parents there on a scouting expedition. My mother is a radical anglophile and so I suggested that father take advantage of the English style afternoon teas they offer and get on my mother’s good side.

He took my advice and I was assured that the tea came with scones and clotted cream and all that good stuff.

Also, that it’s a good bookstore. The clerk was knowledgeable, had some suggestions based on my mother’s affection for pre-war novels from England.

So, going to have to take a road trip some day soon.