Cassie Clemans said she visited Barnes & Noble twice a month after she moved to Bend in 2011. Eventually, that love of books led to her opening her own bookstore, Roundabout Books, in NorthWest Crossing.

“I really wanted to do something here in Bend, and feel like I’m contributing to the community,” Clemans said Tuesday.

After a soft opening at the end of last week, Roundabout Books officially opened its doors Monday. The 1,500-square-foot store features a small cafe that serves coffee, wine and beer, and space for around 7,000 new books ranging from historical fiction to children’s stories.

“The whole community has been so supportive,” Clemans said. “It’s really a relief to know that other people feel the same way I feel about bookstores.”

Clemans said she has never operated a retail business before, though she co-owned Streamline Solar Power Systems LLC, an Arizona-based solar company. She decided she was interested in opening a bookstore last winter, and earlier this year went through a course put on by Paz & Associates, a national company that operates a program to help potential entrepreneurs run a bookstore. Clemans said Roundabout Books is still evolving and that community input will shape what books the store carries.

“It’s hard for one person to pick the books for the whole community.” Clemans said

During the spring, Clemans reached out to the owners of the Trend Building at NWX, a 14,000-square-foot building at 900 NW Mt. Washington Drive, about renting a space at the building, which was under construction at the time. She said the building’s location, near the center of NorthWest Crossing, made it a good fit for the store.

Lease rates in the neighborhood are high for Central Oregon, and Shayne Olsen, the owner of the Trend Building, said a separate commercial space in the building is listed at $2 per square foot. However, Clemans added that the rapid growth of the neighborhood, and the shortage of bookstores on the west side of Bend, would offset the cost.

“I really felt, just in my gut, that NorthWest Crossing is the right place for this,” Clemans said.

In spite of increased competition from Amazon and other online retailers, independent bookstores in the United States have fared well in recent years. Dan Cullen, senior strategy officer for the American Booksellers Association, a nonprofit trade organization for bookstores, wrote in an email that the association’s membership has grown for seven consecutive years. Additionally, sales at independent bookstores rose 10 percent in 2015, and an additional 5 percent so far in 2016.

“While not every bookstore or community has seen this growth, the national trends are clear,” Cullen wrote.

With a number of schools in the area, Clemans said the store will have a robust section of children’s books. She said Roundabout Books will host its first author presentation later this month, and added that she hopes the store can host more going forward.

“I really want it to be a community center, for this side of Bend but for the entire town, too,” Clemans said.

—Reporter: 541-617-7818, shamway@bendbulletin.com