Dallas Gets a New Independent Bookstore with Perot Power

In the digital age of e-readers and sites like Amazon — which, yes, definitely has its perks — sometimes nothing sounds better than getting lost among the literary works of authors old and new in a bookstore.

Much to our delight (as fans of both books and the print medium), this summer a brick-and-mortar shop is opening a new chapter for the Dallas independent bookselling scene that’s been a bit lacking for some time.

Interabang Books is slated to debut a 5,000-square-foot shop in the last week of June on the corner of Preston Road and Royal Lane. It is the brainchild of Nancy Perot, daughter of Margot and Ross Perot; Jeremy Ellis, who began his career at Dallas’ Taylors Books before becoming general manager at Houston’s Brazos Bookstore and then marketing director at BookPeople in Austin; and Lori Feathers of the National Book Critics Circle.

The store, cleverly named after the little-used piece of punctuation combining a question mark and exclamation point (often denoted as “?!”), will stock books on a range of subjects — more than 12,000 titles — but give particular attention to fiction, creative nonfiction, and children’s categories.

“Dallas is a very literary city, and every great city needs great independent bookstores to enrich the community and support literacy efforts,” Perot says in a release. “If you are a book lover, nothing compares to the experience of being in a really wonderful bookstore.” 

Placing an emphasis on curiosity and the thrill of reading, Interabang will offer an event space accommodating 100 people for author book signings, plus a children’s stage for weekly story times. (We’re currently picturing Meg Ryan as the Storybook Lady, from that endearing You’ve Got Mail scene… Oh, the nostalgia.)

Interabang Books, 10720 Preston Road.