What Is Happening for Independent Bookstore Day 2024?

Seattle Independent Bookstore Day (SIBD) has come to mean a great deal to all of us working in the Seattle bookstore community, and we’re glad to say that the Seattle-area indie bookstores are celebrating Indie Bookstore Day with the popular Bookstore Day Passport Challenge this year. Once again, local book (and bookstore) lovers will be challenged to visit all 28 participating Seattle-area independent bookstores, and, as in the past few years, they will have ten days to complete the challenge.

Independent Bookstore Day is on Saturday, April 27, and the challenge must be completed by Monday, May 6.

Book fanatics who complete the challenge will receive a Bookstore Day Champion Stamp Card, good for a one-time 25% discount at each participating store and valid until April 25, 2025.

Like last year, we are also offering an intermediate reward: those who don’t complete the full challenge but get their passport stamped at at least five participating stores during the ten-day period will receive a single 25%-off coupon, good at any of the participating stores.

We are grateful for the support our bookstores receive. The Seattle area independent bookstore community continues to thrive because of you.

SIBD 2024, April 27 - May 6, FAQ Sheet

Is Indie Bookstore Day happening this year?

Yes, both nationally and in Seattle.

How do I qualify as an Indie Bookstore Day 2024 Champion?

Visit all 28 participating Seattle-area stores between April 27 and May 6, 2024, and turn in your passport with stamps from all the stores.

What’s the prize?

A Bookstore Day Champion Stamp Card, good for a one-time 25% discount at each of the participating stores. The card will be good through April 25, 2025 (the day before Independent Bookstore Day next year). *Discount exclusions apply. See individual stores for details.

Can I earn a prize if I don’t visit all the stores?

Yes, if you get your passport stamped at five or more stores during the ten-day period but don’t complete the full challenge, turn in your passport at the last store you visit and you’ll immediately receive a single-use 25% coupon good at any participating store.

Which bookstores are participating?

See the list of participating bookstores at the bottom of this page. There have been a number of changes to the participating stores since last year’s challenge, so please note the current lineup. (One note: for stores with multiple branches (the three branches of Third Place Books and Phinney Books/Madison Books, which are under the same ownership), you only need to get one stamp for each group.) Also please note that not all participating bookstores are open for all ten days of the challenge. You can see store hours below or on our mobile site.

How do I participate?

Pick up a passport in person at a participating bookstore, starting on Bookstore Day, April 27, 2024. Get your passport stamped at each store during the ten-day period, and turn it in at the last store you visit. No purchase is required to get your stamp at each store, though of course you are encouraged to shop. Online visits or purchases are not included: you must have your card stamped, in person, at each store.

When will I receive my discount card?

When you turn in your passport, you will choose your “home” store, where your Champion Discount Card will be held for you to pick up, starting on June 10.

What Is Independent Bookstore Day?

Independent Bookstore Day is a one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country on the last Saturday in April. Every store is unique and independent and hosts its own party. And in addition to authors, live music, cupcakes, scavenger hunts, kids events, art tables, readings, contests, and the other fun stuff that you’ll find on Bookstore Day, many stores offer exclusive books and literary items that you can only get on that day. Not before. Not after. Not online.

What Is Seattle Independent Bookstore Day?

When Independent Bookstore Day went national in 2015 (after its founding in 2014 by booksellers in Northern California was a rousing success), Seattle's indie bookstores collaborated to showcase what we do best: build human connections through physical books, in a daylong celebration of the work we do and the readers and customers who make it possible. We offered many of the same events and exclusive items as our colleagues across the country, but we also introduced the Passport Challenge, encouraging readers to get their passports stamped at as many participating stores as possible on Bookstore Day. Those who got their passports stamped at every participating store that day were crowned Grand Champions, with a crown, a party, and a 25% discount at all participating stores for the following year. We have been stunned by the response: in our first year, we weren't sure if anyone would complete the full Passport Challenge, but we crowned 42 Grand Champions. In 2017, our third year, the number of Grand Champions, all of whom visited stores from Poulsbo to Kirkland to Queen Anne to Georgetown in a single day, exploded to 320, and in 2019 our total number of Champions increased to 636. We weren’t able to continue the Passport Challenge in 2020 and 2021, but in 2022 we introduced the 10-day Passport Challenge, and we crowned 335 champions to celebrate the return of Bookstore Day, and 370 champions the following year, in 2023.

Why Are We Celebrating Independent Bookstores?

Independent bookstores in the Pacific Northwest aren’t just brick and mortar storefronts. We’re part of a thriving literary scene made up of writers, readers, librarians, and publishers (which was declared by UNESCO in 2017 an official "City of Literature"). We’re local literary destinations for our communities and staffed by passionate, well-read booksellers. We’re entire universes of ideas that contain the possibility of real serendipity. We’re lively performance spaces and quiet places where “just that right book” can be discovered.

Bookstores are living, breathing organisms that continue to grow and develop each year. In a world of tweets, algorithms, and digital downloads customers find it reassuring to walk into a bookstore, smell the books, talk with a bookseller, and hold the books in their hands. This won’t change. We’re here to stay, and in fact we’re growing: our first Bookstore Challenge included only 19 stores, and now we’re up to 28, many of them having opened in the years since.

When Does It Happen?

Seattle Independent Bookstore Day takes place on the last Saturday in April.

How to Connect with Us

Visit our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram and Twitter. Use #SEABookstoreDay if you want to add to the conversation. 

Participating Stores