09/14/2026
📚🍎 School is back in session, and we're going back to books!
For the month of September, we're taking you on a little Johnston County Book Tour as we spotlight three local bookstores. Each shop has its own story, personality, and shelves full of possibilities.
📗📙📘 Chapter 1: Pauper's Books & More
Our first adventure takes us to Pauper's, located in the Clayton Corners Shopping Center. Here you can buy and sell gently used books, CDs, DVDs, comics, vinyl records, and more. With shelves full of fiction and nonfiction, children's books, graphic novels, manga, and plenty of unexpected treasures, you never quite know what you'll discover!
This is always one of our favorite stops before heading out on vacation. We load up on some good, mindless reading, and Cathy? She'll take a real book over an e-reader any day! There is just something about holding a book in your hands, turning the pages, and maybe even finding a treasure someone else has already enjoyed. 📖✈️
📖 Chapter 2: The Story Keeper BookStore
Then we're heading to Micro, just outside of Selma, one of their three locations, with book nooks also located inside Coffee on Raiford 📚☕ and Hinnant Family Vineyards 📚 🍷. Coffee or w**e and a good book? Need we say more? In these locations, a bookstore is more than just a place to buy a book. It can also be a place to discover new stories, meet fellow book lovers, and occasionally even meet the people behind the pages!
The StoryKeeper also hosts occasional Meet the Author events, giving readers the opportunity to connect with authors and hear more about the stories they have created.
🔎 Chapter 3: Once Upon A Crime
Our final stop takes us to Smithfield's newly opened bookstore! Once Upon a Crime specializes in mystery, thriller, suspense, and crime fiction—so if you love a book that keeps you guessing and makes you say, “Just one more chapter...” this may be your kind of place.
In addition to finding your next great read, Once Upon a Crime hosts Murder Mystery Game Nights and book signing events. They've also opened a brand-new back room as a cozy little corner to sit, read, chat about books, host book clubs and maybe even solve a murder or two!
Whether you’re heading back to school, looking for your next great read, or just love the smell and feel of a good book, September is the perfect time to support our local bookstores!
Now we want to know...are you Team Real Book like Cathy, or Team E-Reader like Chris? And what book are you reading right now?
