First Edition Bookstore on Avenue D to hold grand opening

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press 

Located at the corner of Avenue D and Main Street, in one of the former Ledger Furniture storefronts, First Edition Bookstore opens its doors each day to customers, offering a book for just about anyone and everyone. 

Owner Mario Vasquez opened the doors to First Edition at the end of June. 

This Saturday, the bookstore will hold its Grand Opening starting at 9 a.m., with prizes and other activities planned.

Vasquez, an Army veteran, said that the idea for the bookstore came about after he created his own app, called the Virtual Window Shop, which offers a marketplace type setting but in a phone application. The app gives businesses their own dashboard where they can list their products, where customers who download the app can shop locally. Vasquez said the app is customizable in that it allows the businesses to control their inventory and delivery settings. 

“The bookstore came out of two things,” Vasquez said. “One is that we wanted to open a store that the public needed, and I already knew that a lot of readers were here.” 

Vasquez served in the military for 24 years before retiring. He has lived in Copperas Cove since 2004 and said he loves the Copperas Cove community and how supportive it is. 

He said he put out a survey to determine if people would want a bookstore, and after he received his responses, he began putting the books into his storefront in his Virtual Window Shop app. 

A banner advertising the app hangs in the window of the bookstore, featuring the QR code to download the app. 

Vasquez said he hopes that the bookstore being on the app will also show businesses and customers how the app works and encourage them to utilize it as well. 

The First Edition Bookstore features hardcovers, paperbacks (both mass market and other paperbacks) for adults, young adults, children and babies, along with vinyl records, magazines and more. 

Vasquez strives to keep the prices of all the books low and affordable for his customers. Many books are priced below $5. 

Vasquez welcomes donations of books, and he is often going to places around Central Texas and even down to San Antonio to pick up more books to place on the shelves that he built in his bookstore. 

In addition to donating books, volunteers are also welcome to come and help Vasquez organize books by subject and shelve them. 

Vasquez hopes to incorporate presentations with people who have certain subjects or hobbies, like gardening or a type of craft, into the book store, by offering a location for small classes. 

A person who knows how to sew or crochet could sign up to teach a small class on that subject on a Saturday, with people signing up to join that class, he said as an example. 

First Edition Bookstore is open to the public and is located at 101 W. Avenue D. 

The hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.