Third Place Books Ravenna

Real estate developer Ron Sher founded Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park in 1998, naming it for the "third places" sociologist Ray Oldenburg described in The Great Good Place. In January 2002, PCC, the natural food cooperative, said it would sell its Ravenna property to Third Place, which planned a bookstore, bakery and community gathering place. Sher and Robert Sindelar, who joined the company in 1999 and became its managing partner, opened the Ravenna store that year on the northeast corner of 20th Avenue NE and 65th Street.

The shelves hold more than 40,000 books, new titles mixed with used and bargain finds, and The Seattle Times singled out both the kids section and the poetry section. Cafe Arta, a full service Mediterranean restaurant, fills the back of the store, and the Third Place Pub sits below it, with free WiFi throughout. Evening programs keep the calendar full: author readings, Magic Monday, Science on Tap and the Black Jaw Reading Series with the UW MFA program. The used book counter buys by appointment only.