A dream come true, right here in Brentwood.  After years spent imagining opening a bookstore, Lizzie McCoy, owner of Blythe Books, is finally seeing her vision come to life. 

“I wanted to open a bookstore, but I didn’t know how.  We started online, but it grew very quickly,” McCoy shared while standing in her shop at 2941 Brownsville Road. 

Her cozy store invites guests to come in and stay awhile.  There’s coffee brewing, comfy chairs, and of course, plenty of books. 

McCoy began looking for a retail space last November, expecting it to take much longer to find the perfect location. A friend encouraged her to check out Brentwood, which hadn’t even been on her radar. 

During their soft opening, McCoy says they’ve had a steady stream of customers, many of them coming by bus. “One of my big things was that I wanted to be on a mass transit line,” she said.  “It’s been slow but growing.  Every week is better than the week before.”  She notes that many people come in saying they didn’t know the store was there. She’s trying to spread the word.  The store’s public grand opening is coming up on Saturday, April 26, 2025.

“Accessibility is something I’m really passionate about.  That’s why it’s a used bookstore.  If I can get you a book in your hands for cheaper, that’s important to me.”  McCoy equates the same theory of a pet shelter—getting orphaned books to their forever homes.  She says people can drop off up to 20 books at a time and get cash or store credit.  Your books will get a second life, either being resold or donated to a library if McCoy can’t sell them in her shop.

Not everything is secondhand, though. A shelf dedicated to local authors—every one of them living within 20 minutes of the store—is proving to be wildly popular.   “One of the pillars of the store ideology is to support local authors and artists.  Some of them are selling insanely well.  I can’t keep some of them on the shelves. “

McCoy, a mother with two young children, says the seesaw has gone the other direction and she’s looking to do something she’s truly passionate about.  She envisions her store as a community hub. With rolling shelves, an expandable table, and a children’s nook featuring a hand-painted mural, she plans to host events that bring people together.  “The goal is to reach out and build that community, where they know this is a space they can come to, no matter who they are, what their background is, they can always come here and just be themselves.”

Book clubs, family groups, or anyone with an organization can use the space after regular store hours.  McCoy says they shut down the store and they’ll set it up, however the group would like to use the space to host.  Groups can also shop privately during that time.

In May, the store will participate in a nine-day Pittsburgh Book Crawl alongside two dozen other indie bookstores. Visitors can collect stamps in a bookstore “passport” for a chance to win prizes and discover new favorites across the region.

“I’ve been a book lover forever, it’s part of who I am,” McCoy says and she’s hoping you’ll find books you love too –right here in Brentwood.