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Independent booksellers grew in number, diversity in 2021

NEW YORK (AP) — Laura Romani, a Chicago-area resident with a background in education and library science, had been thinking of a new career.

“I was at home a couple of years ago reflecting on all the experience I gained and how I wanted to contribute to the Latino community, while also allowing myself to be on my own and make use of my love for books and passion for multilingualism,” she says.

The solution: Start a bookstore. With help from a local grant and stimulus checks that she and her husband received during the pandemic, Romani launched Los Amigos Books, initially as an online store last year and now with a small physical outlet with a bright blue front in Berwyn, Illinois.