Sarah Ockershausen-Delp, who launched Poe's New and Used bookstore at 428 Market St. in New Berlin, Pa., last October, told the Daily Item that it had been a "very inopportune time" to open during the Covid-19 pandemic, but "it was something that needed to happen" because the borough needed a small bookstore.
"As Neil Gaiman says, a town is not a town without a book store," said Delp. "New Berlin really needed to have a place for people to come and get away from everyday life, and find a little bit of fantasy or mystery to solve. It was something the community needed.... People needed something to rally behind and hope for, and see something new."
Delp and her husband, Jason, live across the street from a former yoga center that closed in 2019. When the price dropped low enough last year, they purchased the building and worked through the summer to renovate it, the Daily Item wrote. She chose the name Poe because Edgar Allan Poe was "an amazing, influential author. He's easily recognizable to all sorts of people."
The building also has space for local artists and crafters to sell their products, the Daily Item noted, adding that the "goal is to have events such as poetry nights, literary events and fun community events."