Enter the store at 5879 Ellsworth Ave in Shadyside, and you’ll find two pairs of shoes by the front door. Light filters through the picture window facing the street and lands on a leafy monstera, a low table of featured books, and if you’re lucky, a playful tabby cat named Ishiguro. The owners of the shoes and the shop welcome you and tell you there are more books upstairs. On the shelves, there are books and plants for sale, along with a self-serve tea and coffee corner. The proprietors, Mark Jay and Layla Zaina, bring distinct experience to the venture. Jay is a former employee of Amazing Books and Records in Squirrel Hill. Zaina is the plant expert. “I’ve worked in nurseries and garden centers, so the plants I can really say that helped. Working at Dobra tea has influenced the tea choice,” Zaina said. The books are carefully selected — the curation is not driven by BookScan data or the fluctuations of the first edition market, nor is it completely literary — it includes cookbooks, sports books, comics and manga. Still, it is  clear there is a literary sensibility with titles as far ranging as William Blake’s “The Book of Thel,” Ruth Ozeki’s “A Tale For The Time Being,” and (in translation) Kurdish author Bachtyar Ali’s “The Last Pomegranate Tree.” “We’re trying to include everybody,” Jay said. 

Photo Credit: Matthew Glover/Pittsburgh Institute for Nonprofit Journalism