If you’re ever in Erie, PA looking for a bookstore, Werner Books and Coffee is the place to be. This mostly used bookstore has friendly staff and comfy places to sit whether you’re lingering over a coffee or sorting through the stack of books you just found.

This is very much a community bookstore where you’ll find book dragons of all ages happily searching for their next favorite read. The kids section is well organized and there were some youngsters agonizing over what they would buy when we were there.

They host book clubs and poetry nights and have a robust collection of local books. I thought it was interesting that they have several book clubs and that they aren’t focused just on today’s popular reads. One that caught my eye is reading Carson McCullers’ classic “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter” which I hadn’t thought about since my English major days back in college. Other clubs were reading titles like “Remarkably Bright Creatures” which is an excellent modern fiction book if you ask me.

Even the coffee shop features sweet treats from local bakeries to go with your favorite warm drink while you study or read. Community partnerships clearly matter here and it made me wish for such a store closer to home.

They seem to have a book exchange program with relatively high standards and a terrific, if not small, collection of new books as well.

The staff is friendly and seems to know everyone’s names. We chatted with the gentleman who rung us up and he was telling us about a bus trip they were organizing to take their patrons on a bookstore crawl in Pittsburgh. My friend recommended some stores for a future trip and he and he was a little familiar with southern Ohio – he had also attended Ohio University and has a fondness for Athens County.

My friend left with a decent stack of books. I think I found one used and one from the new book section that I couldn’t leave without. The experience was so relaxing and nice I look forward to returning someday.

Werner Books and Coffee is located in a strip mall so there’s plenty of free parking.

Learn all about them at their website!