Indigo Bridge director of operation Aaliyah Samci (from left), bookside inventory manager Kaitlyn Arterburn and barista and bookseller Sid Bishop organize the store ahead of the opening Thursday.
JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star
Aaliyah Wells-Samci, who identifies as queer, works at Indigo Bridge as the Director of marketing and operations at Indigo Bridge Bookstore on Thursday, August 11, 2022, in Lincoln, NE. KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star
At the corner of 17th Street and Sumner Street, an old light-up letterboard sign points toward a small brick strip mall, the new home of Indigo Bridge.
Aaliyah Samci, director of operations for Indigo Bridge, says it's more than just a book store.
"I like to describe us as a bookstore, coffee shop and community space."
Samci and the rest of the staff celebrated the grand opening of their new location at 1624 S. 17th St. on Saturday with performances by local musicians and a raffle.
Will Hutchinson, Jackson Agena, and Jack Rodenburg performed live music, and artist Ngozi Ramsay painted the faces of smiling children that visited.
Laughter and music filled the shop while Isabel Kratville, a senior at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, sat sipping orange juice in front of her laptop.
"I think Indigo Bridge is going to be a wonderful safe space for a lot of people," Kratville said. "I'm excited to see the direction that Indigo Bridge takes, I know the people who work here and they put their whole hearts into it."
Patrons scanned the shelves as Jackson Agena, a member of local band Wick O'rya, played happy tunes on his guitar and sang about his life and travels before the pandemic.
Agena worked across the street from Ingido Bridge's original location at Seventh and P streets, and was impressed by the new scenery.
"I prefer this location, it looks a lot nicer. The ceilings are extra high and they were able to take a more modern approach to the bar, which is nice."
The Indigo Bridge's original location in the Haymarket opened in 2008. It closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
Samci says that closing their doors led to a reevaluation of the goals and mission statement of the business. The company took the downtime to think about what they mean to the community.
"The team at the time, and especially our owner, sat down and decided that this was the perfect opportunity in such an unfortunate situation to bring some light to it."
This led them to leave the Haymarket and create a pop-up location at 1346 B St, which would be open until late August this year. Construction delays and a lack of space led to the closure of the B Street location, and they then found their new home thanks to their new neighbor, Sid Conner of Conner's Architectural Antiques, who had been using the space for storage.
The mission of Indigo Bridge is to be an inclusive space for all, Samci said. The books they sell are written by women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community.
"The books we sell here are all relatively new, especially because we do sell books from underrepresented communities. Anything predating a certain time honestly didn't have a lot of representation in literature," Samci said.
Samci, who is part of the LGBTQ community, excitedly mentioned her favorite book, "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe," and praised author Benjamin Alire SÃ enz, a Latino man from Texas.
"It was the first book I ever read that had queer protagonists. It made me feel seen and comforted, so it was definitely one of my striving reasons I ran for an opportunity to work at Indigo (Bridge)."
Representation is important to Samci, and she wants the customers and community of Indigo Bridge to have a space where they feel welcome.
"We want people to feel represented and comfortable in who they are, and come to a place where they feel like they matter."
Indigo Bridge director of operation Aaliyah Samci (from left), bookside inventory manager Kaitlyn Arterburn and barista and bookseller Sid Bishop organize the store ahead of the opening Thursday.
Aaliyah Wells-Samci, who identifies as queer, works at Indigo Bridge as the Director of marketing and operations at Indigo Bridge Bookstore on Thursday, August 11, 2022, in Lincoln, NE. KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star