The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Teen tells a retail tale
That bright pop on Ventura Boulevard is the bookstore belonging to Annabelle Chang, 16
If you’re looking for teen-approved young adult books, there’s a new bookstore in Studio City you can’t miss. Why? Because it’s bright pink.
Annabelle’s Book Club LA is memorable not only as a vivid pop of color along Ventura Boulevard but because its founder and owner, Annabelle Chang, is 16 years old.
“My whole life, I’ve always been a huge book lover, and I’ve always dreamed of working in or owning a bookstore. But I never really thought that it would be a reality,” says Annabelle, who was friendly and composed discussing the store on a recent Zoom call. “I started researching bookstores in L.A. and across the country and, realizing there were no Ya-focused ones, I really wanted to fill that gap in the market.”
The teen, who attends an online high school to allow time for the store, credits her family for fostering her interests (and co-signing documents due to her age). Her mother is Amanda Brown, the author of the novel “Legally Blonde” and other books, and her father is Justin Chang, a real estate investor. As well, one of Annabelle’s three sisters, Alexandra, launched the fashion blog The Zeitgeist while she was in her teens.
“Everyone in my family are huge readers, and so I really credit them with introducing me to books at an early age. They fostered my love of reading throughout my whole life. And it’s always great because I have a twin sister, a younger sister and an older sister. So we have a large variety of tastes in our house, and I’m always getting good recommendations from them,” she says.
Annabelle, who says she was often sharing her own book picks with others, came to the idea for the store after starting an Instagram account and then a blog devoted to YA books.
“I started interviewing a lot of YA authors and bookstore owners. And in talking to them, I realized that, even though YA has such a wide appeal as a genre and it’s really popular in bookstores, in most stores it’s just a small section. So to test the YA demand, I started selling my selection of carefully curated YA books online and I was so happy when they immediately sold out. And as I kept doing this, I thought it’d be fun to do something like this in person.”
After testing pop-up shops at some book events, she consulted booksellers from The Last Bookstore, Skylight Books and Diesel, a Bookstore, all of whom she credits for being generous with their advice.
“I learned a lot about how they got started, what challenges they went through and really, from The Last Bookstore founder in particular, because they carry so many different types of things, like music and fun gift items in addition to books,” says Annabelle. “I really started to think about how I might want to have a variety of items. And yeah, I was just really interested to learn more about how they got their books and how they chose them and organized everything and events and things like that.”
Having learned from local experts, she says the store, which has a staff of three, offers a selection beyond YA as well.
“We have a lot of books for adults and younger kids, too. So I really feel that we have something for everyone. It’s been one of my main goals with this. And seeing people of all ages come in — families, adults, little kids and teenagers alike — it’s been really great to see that everyone can find something there.”
Including, she says, a book that means a lot to the store’s proprietor.
“The first chapter book that I read was this Rainbow Magic series by Daisy Meadows. It follows all these different fairies. I’m a competitive tennis player, so the first book I read was ‘Alice the Tennis Fairy,’ ” says Annabelle, who has a wall in the shop devoted to some of her favorite titles, which include “The Book Thief,” “Jane Eyre” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” “I carry it in the store because it was my first chapter book.”
And finally, what about the pink storefront? Annabelle says it wasn’t a nod to her mother’s Elle Woods character as much as an eye-catching family favorite.
“I’ve heard from a lot of people; they come in and say, ‘Well, I wasn’t really sure what this was, but I saw the pink and knew I had to come in.’ So I’m glad it’s having that effect on people,” she says. “We are all big fans of pink in my house.”