Editor's note: This story is part of an ongoing series for Arts Access examining the health and well-being of our North Texas arts economy.
Marco Cavazos never planned to open a bookstore. He just wanted a place to sell his own poetry. But when he opened Poets Bookshop in Oak Cliff in December 2019, it quickly became a hub for literature lovers and writers in South Dallas.
Now four years later, Cavazos is expanding. He’s set to open a second location in Deep Ellum, doubling the original bookstore's footprint with a 1,200-square-foot space in the former Archer Paper Goods store.
Cavazos wanted to expand to do more community centered events. He initially considered areas like downtown and Uptown, avoiding Deep Ellum. However, after talking to the building’s landlord, he changed his mind.
“Oak Cliff and Deep Ellum are really different neighborhoods,” Cavazos said. “And so that was a big appeal for me just to reach more of Dallas and have that ability to expand and keep growing.”
He financed the second store the traditional way – saving. Money from the Bishop Arts store, selling his own work and doing his own renovations helped Cavazos bring his vision to life. He built half of the bookshelves, patched and painted the walls.
“Way more work than I anticipated,” he said. “I did not expect to be doing so much hard work, you know, scrubbing and scraping and painting.”
The original location in Bishop Arts is known for its collection of typewriters that customers are free to use. Customers can even fill out postcards, which the store sends to their loved ones.
Cavazos believes the typewriters not only add a sense of community, but also foster a sense of belonging and ownership.
“I have people come and use typewriters and they get frustrated because somebody else broke one of them or messed it up,” he said. “I appreciate that because it becomes like, this is important to you too.”
The Deep Ellum store, however, will take that mission of building community further. Cavazos plans to add more tables, chairs and stronger Wi-Fi to encourage more in-store writing. He also hopes to host writer’s groups and workshops to cultivate a literary community in Deep Ellum.
“The last time that I was spending a ton of time in Deep Ellum was back in the, you know, late ’90s or 2000 for all those bars and clubs and stuff,” he said. “So I'm really eager to see what the store's going to be like.”
For Cavazos, opening a second bookstore isn’t just about expansion — it’s about connecting with something physical.
“The book market isn't as big as it was, you know, 50 to 100 years ago. But there's always going to be that desire to read books and to disconnect in that way,” he said.
While the Oak Cliff location carries a wide range of literature, the Deep Ellum store will have a more specific selection. Cavazos wants the banned books section, the philosophy section and the activism section to be the first things customers see. He’s motivated to serve underprivileged communities.
“I think a big part of a bookstore, especially an indie bookstore, is to be thought-provoking, to push back where you see injustice, especially attempts to silence intellectual wisdom and diversity,” he said.
Poets Bookshop in Deep Ellum plans to host a grand opening in late March.
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