Boutique Bookstore Opens on Broadway

SARATOGA SPRINGS — If you’re looking for Broadway’s newest bookstore, look up.

Botanica Books hovers above downtown Saratoga, a couple flights of stairs removed from the shoppers, drinkers, and gallivanters.

“I wanted something that felt a little bit off the beaten path, something that people might be curious about,” said Botanica’s owner and manager Carissa Mina. “The foot traffic has been great… Booklovers will go as far as they need to see a bookshop.”

The short climb is rewarded with a boutique-style store that looks more like a treehouse than Tree House Brewing: a plant’s tendrils fall between two bookshelves; a floral rug rests beneath two green cushioned armchairs; and a bird named Stevie Nicks is perched above the patrons. (Yes, Botanica has its own pet bird named after the witchy singer-songwriter.)

If the arboreal vibes aren’t enough to lure you in, the shop differentiates itself from other Broadway booksellers with its special-interest titles that cover literature, art, antiquity, botany, history, religion, politics, and more.

“I think my distinct personality would be that I love to read and I love to learn, and I really wanted to have a bookshop [where] all the books in it are books that I’m really interested in reading or learning from,” Mina said. “People can come in and find something that maybe they weren’t looking for and that they might have an interest in reading or learning about.”

Mina is a New York native (Niagara Falls, to be exact) who moved back to the great Upstate after living in Colorado, where she owned and operated a children’s bookshop called The Wandering Jellyfish. She’s also a writer herself and was active in Colorado’s wordsmith scene. After journeying back to New York, she hoped to recreate that community here in the Spa City. To that end, Botanica offers itself as a meeting place for writing workshops, book clubs, classes, and other small gatherings.

“Writers, we’re a lonely bunch,” Mina said. “I missed my community and [wanted] to give writers a reason to get together.”

Although Botanica only recently opened, local authors are already drawn to it. Saratoga Schaefer—a self-described “author, poet, and graveyard dweller” who is both named after Saratoga Springs and now lives in the area—stopped by Mina’s shop with an advanced copy of the forthcoming horror novel “Trad Wife.”

“It’s fantastic,” Mina said of the Schaefer book that’ll be out in February. “I love a good horror book.”

Lovers of good books of all kinds can stop by Botanica Books at 456 Broadway, Suite 302. It’s open Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those interested in using Botanica as a meeting place for book clubs or writing workshops can contact the store at hello@botanicabooks.com.