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In Lowell, a literary and creative community gathers at Lala Books
Laura Lamarre Anderson and her husband were frustrated by the lack of bookstores in Lowell. So they opened one.
As the co-owner of the independent bookstore Lala Books in Lowell, a former English major, and a teacher, you wouldn’t have guessed that Laura Lamarre Anderson didn’t grow up in a bookish household.
Growing up with nine brothers and sisters, quiet reading time was hard to come by in her family. They weren’t anti-reading by any means, she stressed, but there was “just always a lot of noise and action going on in the house, so it wasn’t really a place for reading.”
The Lowell native described her trip to becoming a reader as “odd,” noting that unlike many booksellers, she didn’t have fond memories of trips to the library as a child, for example. On the contrary, the first time she went to a library was by herself in high school.
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“Oh, what a magical place that was,” she told Boston.com. “Since I found it, I just love reading, just sitting quietly and entering somebody else’s world. It’s fantastic.”
Fast-forward to 2021, when Lamarre Anderson opened Lala Books with her husband, Greg, after working as an elementary Lowell Public School teacher for fifteen years. They had both been frustrated by the lack of an independent bookstore in Lowell, and took it upon themselves to fill that gap. Lamarre Anderson’s daughter, Thea, recently joined the bookstore as head buyer and has contributed to curating book sections that reflect the community and their interests.
“It’s a full family affair,” Lamarre Anderson said of the family-run bookstore. “My husband kept his day job, but we talk about the store and what we want to do all the time. It’s a great family project.”
The bookstore’s name is a delightful play on Lamarre Anderson’s last name – “which is a lot to say,” she acknowledged. The title is a patchwork of her teacher nickname (“Mrs. L.A.”) her family’s nickname (“The L.A.’s”) and her initials, she explained.
In the three years since it was founded, the bookstore is filling a much-needed role in Lowell’s creative and literary community, and has proved to be a space “where readers gather,” as the store’s tagline reads.
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The full service bookstore, located in an old mill building at 189 Market St. in Downtown Lowell, offers books across all genres as well as community-curated book selections. These include a new collection for Women’s History Month, a “Found in Translation” section featuring global literary perspectives, and a shelf dedicated to Jack Kerouac, a Lowell native and pioneer of the Beat Generation. The bookstore also has a full events calendar featuring open mics, a boozy book club, and story time events for kids.
The bookstore’s dedication to serving its community also includes supporting local authors and writers. Three different Lowell writing groups use the bookstore space to host their monthly meetings, and authors in Greater Lowell are guaranteed to have their books on the shelves for at least three months on a consignment basis. Many authors stay on the shelves beyond the three month-mark, Lamarre Anderson said.
Lala Books has become a place where readers, writers, authors, and community members gather not to just find books, but to see themselves reflected on the bookshelves, Lamarre Anderson said.
“When people walk into the store, sometimes they ask if it’s a feminist bookstore or if we’re a queer bookstore, and I think it’s because we’ve worked hard to meet the needs in the community. Our hope is that everybody in the city can see themselves on our shelves,” she said.
Join Book Club’s live virtual author discussion
This month’s Book Club pick is “Ghost Dogs,” by Andre Dubus III. Lamarre Anderson will speak with Dubus about the new book on March 26 at 6 p.m.
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Lamarre Anderson said she is excited to discuss Dubus’ writing process and his distinctly “working class voice,’ which is something she said many Lowell residents can identify with.
“Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin” is an essay collection retelling Dubus’ “successes, failures, triumphs, and pain,” according to W.W. Norton.
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