‘Stories Are Best When Shared’

Marquez Knolls Resident Zibby Owens Opens a Bookstore in Santa Monica

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The last time the Palisadian-Post interviewed Marquez Knolls resident Zibby Owens, she shared about her work as an author, podcaster, CEO and book-fluencer.

Now, the media entrepreneur is still tackling all of that—plus, just this February, she launched a publishing company and opened a bookstore at 1113 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.

“I am so excited,” Owens shared with the Post just over a week before Zibby’s Bookshop opened on February 18. “I literally cannot wait, counting down the days.”

The store opened with a two-day celebration featuring a bevy of author programming, including appearances by Hope Edelman, Jennifer Grey, Pamela Redmond, Rebecca Serle, Jennifer E. Smith and Emma Straub.

Owens, who splits her time with the East Coast, first joined the media scene in 2018 by founding a privately held company, Zibby Media, with her award-winning podcast “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books.” She has since published a memoir and children’s book, as well as edited two anthologies.

The company has grown to now include publishing house Zibby Books, Zibby Mag, podcast network Zibby Audio, education platform Zibby Classes and community events, including retreats, a book club and a writing community.

In July 2022, Owens curated a six-hour book fair in Palisades Village, where readers were invited to the Coast Lounge to browse the 200-plus books that she recommended in her memoir, “Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature.”

The 823-square-foot Santa Monica bookstore marks the “culmination of a lifelong dream,” Owens shared.

“As a lifelong reader and writer, it’s always been a dream of mine to have a bookstore, but I didn’t think I would actually be able to pull it off,” Owens said with a laugh. “But as things have grown with my podcast, and then the publishing company and everything else I’ve been doing, it almost seemed like a natural extension of what I’m doing with my brand.”

Owens’ journey to opening the store dates back to early 2020 when she began to research. She considered alternate locations—including Palisades Village, especially after the closure of Amazon Books—but she was introduced to the Santa Monica space by her broker when the owner wanted a bookstore and made “a really wonderful, compelling case.”

Zibby’s Bookshop will only stock 1,300 titles, offering “an exceptionally well-curated list of fiction, memoir, YA, middle grade and children’s books,” according to a press release.

“It’s a joy to curate a diverse selection of voices for all audiences,” Zibby’s Bookshop Manager Jenny Tarzian shared about the titles the store will offer. “We believe there’s a book here for anyone to discover and be inspired by.”

It will also have the titles published by Zibby Books—Owens’ eponymous publishing company that launched this month, which will release 12 books per year in upmarket, contemporary fiction and memoir. The first six titles include “My What If Year,” “Women Are The Fiercest Creatures,” “Burst,” “Super Bloom,” “Hedge” and “Wednesdays at One.”

“I really wanted to do it differently,” Owens explained of the process of selecting books for the store, “because I’m so tired of people walking into indie bookstores and getting frustrated that they don’t have what they’re looking for. It’s impossible—it’s impossible for any bookstore to have everything. There’s so many books.”

Owens said that the value proposition of the indie bookstore has to shift, so she asked: “What could we do with a bookstore that people actually need?”

“And that’s curation,” she explained. “People need suggestions, they love suggestions, word of mouth is the best way. So how can I share my suggestions if I’m not there physically 24/7?”

The books at the store will not be presented in traditional categories—like history, biography, etc.—but instead “how readers think about books.”

“Are you looking for books that make you feel scared or books that make you laugh or cry or tremble or lust?” Owens shared of the idea. “Do you love sports and you just want something to do with that? We have sections by topic—books for the athlete, books for the historian, books for the foodie—we have all different identity categories of how you identify yourself.”

The store will also have shelves curated by authors, including Kevin Kwan, Lori Gottlieb, Kristin Hannah, Katie Couric, Laura Dave, Isaac Fitzgerald, Chidiogo Akunyili-Parr, Julie Clark and Sarah Mlynowski, so that “readers who walk in will feel like they just got personal suggestions from them.”

For the development and build-out of the store, Owens worked alongside her husband Kyle Owens, who founded production company Morning Moon, and founding team partners Sherri Puzey and Diana Tramontano.

Joe Nicoletti of Chameleon Paintworks, Inc., managed the contracting and execution of the store renovation, while Ashley Elliot crafted interior and exterior murals. Owens oversaw the aesthetics and store design.

“I have to say,” Owens told the Post, “I think it’s really beautiful. I used the same contractor and painter who did our home. I was like, ‘OK, we’re gonna make it look just like our house.’”

The store features the same wide planks of reclaimed wood flooring as Owens’ home, with navy built-in bookshelves all the way around. There are two walls of windows, with different treatments from The Shade Store. She also worked with California Closets, which is located up the block from the store on Montana Avenue.

“I have a little sitting area with a loveseat and two chairs and coffee table,” Owens described.

In addition to selling books, the store will continue to offer a range of events, managed by Sofie Parker.

When Owens launched her podcast in 2018, she explained that to grow it, she did salon-type events, eventually hosting them every two to three weeks prior to the pandemic.

“I would moderate a conversation, and just invite everybody I knew and other authors, and then it would build and build,” Owens explained. “So this is like a salon in my living room, but not my living room. So I’m really excited about the pairings. A lot of authors that we’re choosing don’t have conversation partners, so I’m doing my author matchmaking that I love to do.”

Before the store even officially opened, Owens had nearly 40 events planned. She wanted it to feel like “there’s always something going on,” so every day at 11 a.m. there will be time for kids to enjoy the store. In the evenings, there are author events planned.

The store can also be reserved for private events, like book club meetings, as long as a set number of books are guaranteed to be purchased.

Alisha Fernandez Miranda—author of “My What If Year,” the first title published by Zibby Books—hosted the first event at the store with New York Times-bestselling author and Thurber Prize finalist Annabelle Gurwitch.

And as for Owens’ biggest goal? Helping readers to find their next book sits high at the top of the list.

“We’re trying to make it so that you could walk in and find a book you didn’t even know you wanted,” Owens shared of the store. “Then my real goal—and this is what I fantasize about, because I am this big of a nerd—but I fantasize that people will go into the store, and they’ll go to a particular shelf or they’ll say, ‘Oh, Isaac Fitzgerald loved this book and I loved his book,’ and they take it home and they read it, and they’re like, ‘Wow, I loved that so much. I never would have found out that without Zibby’s Bookshop, I’m going in next time to get my next book.’”

For more information, visit zibbyowens.com.