.Best Independent Bookstore

The bookstore is nice and small and people look up at you when you walk in the door — usually a trait with which we feel uncomfortable, but it’s somehow rendered OK in Mama Bears. The women behind the counter have been there forever and can point you in all the cardinal directions for books on women and relationships and pirates and school and food. While you peruse the stacks, you can always gaze up at the posters of famous women on the wall to inspire you to do things, or if not that, then at least read about it. A café’s in back for tea and snacks, and free literature abounds at the front. But be sure to visit soon. The store’s lease is up in two years, and where they’ll go, nobody knows.