The Writer's Block is an independent bookseller, publisher, and literacy educator in

downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming Las Vegas, Downtown Gaming Area was the primary gambl ...

. It is the first independent bookstore in Las Vegas and second in the state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. Its bookstore has been recommended several times by publications and authors including ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', Tayari Jones, and '' Alta Journal''. In 2024, it was chosen as Best Bookstore for the '' Las Vegas Weekly'' Best of Vegas list.

Original location

Years before its establishment, 826NYC co-founder Scott Seeley and Drew Cohen came together with plans to found an independent bookstore in

. Beforehand, Cohen was warned severally that attempts to open an independent bookstore in the area would fail. In midst of its creation, entrepreneur Jennifer 8. Lee put Seeley and Cohen in touch with

Zappos Zappos.com is an American online shoe and clothing retailer based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The company was founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn and launched under the domain name Shoesite.com. In July 2009, Amazon acquired Zappos in an ...

founder Tony Hsieh who, as part of his Downtown Project—a $350-million-dollar initiative to revitalize downtown Las Vegas—helped partially fund the Writer's Block. In 2014, the Writer's Block was opened at 509 Fremont Street, a location previously occupied by a tattoo parlor, with former BSSco. store manager and Archway Editions publisher Chris Molnar. Behind the bookstore front, at its original Fremont Street location, was the literacy education component of the Writer's Block, known as Codex. Similar in layout to the educational area behind 826NYC's Superhero Supply Store, Codex also featured movable walls, tables and desks. It was used for free writing workshops for children ages 5-18, in addition to readings, signings, and ongoing series such a
Neon Lit
the monthly reading by MFA and PHD writing students at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

Relocation

In 2019, the Writer's Block relocated to the Lucy, a new art center in downtown Las Vegas on 6th Street and Bonneville Avenue established by philanthropist Beverly Rogers, who now partially owns the Writer's Block. The location utilizes 3,000 square feet for bookselling and another 800 square feet for events. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the square footage was retooled for fulfilling online orders. Along with over 20,000 books, the location has a coffee shop, while regularly hosting creative writing workshops, book clubs, and author signing events.

References

External links

Official websiteThe Writer's Block Residencies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Writer's Block Independent bookstores of the United States Downtown Las Vegas Buildings and structures in Las Vegas Retail buildings in Nevada Creative writing programs Education in Las Vegas Bookstores established in the 21st century American companies established in 2014 Publishing companies established in 2014 Retail companies established in 2014 2014 establishments in Nevada Tourist attractions in the Las Vegas Valley