After earning his doctorate in religious studies from the University of Virginia’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Philip Lorish’s path hasn’t been a traditional one. He first worked as a consultant for startups looking for insight into the intersection of technology and ethics, then decided to pursue his dream of opening an independent bookstore in Charlottesville.
The recently opened Commerce Street Books, located in the gallery of the Doyle Hotel on West Main Street, may seem like a risky bet at a time when buying a book online is almost too easy, and when a new study that finds the number of people who read for pleasure has declined nearly 40% over the past two decades. But Lorish says a bookstore is about community, not just convenience.
Lorish, who earned his doctorate in religious studies at UVA, is now pursuing his dream of running an independent bookstore in Charlottesville. (Contributed photo)
Q. What led you from a doctorate in religious studies to opening a bookstore?
A. When I finished my doctorate, my wife and I were at a crossroads. The academic jobs available weren’t in places we wanted to live, and we weren’t interested in the precarity of chasing visiting professorships.
We loved Charlottesville and made a deliberate choice to stay and build a life here. I consulted for a while, mostly with startups that were trying to think more deeply about the human impact of the products they were creating. That work, plus my academic background – particularly my interest in ethics and the role of technology in our everyday lives – eventually coalesced into this idea for the bookstore.
Q. Charlottesville already has a variety of bookstores. What’s your vision for Commerce Street Books?
A. I see the store as a support structure for the practice of reading. It’s a response to algorithmically driven life – everything online is optimized for ease and sameness. But reading, at its best, should surprise us. I want the store to encourage readers, wherever they are in their reading life, to take one step further. Whether they’re into memoirs, literary theory or children’s books, we want to help guide them toward something unexpected. But for folks who know what they want, we want to make it easier to support a local bookshop.
Our online inventory and soon-to-launch app are designed to make buying locally as easy and convenient as possible. We’ll even deliver to local members on Fridays. But more than that, we want to create a space where reading builds relationships and community.
Q. Do you have an ideal customer in mind?
A. I think about a few different kinds of readers. There’s the parent who can sit in one of our big yellow chairs with a cup of coffee while their kid browses the children’s section. And then there are intellectually curious Charlottesville residents who might love living in a university town, but don’t have a natural way to access its intellectual life.
