The dream of owning your own bookstore is common among serious readers, just as it was for Paige Maudlin, a devoted bookworm who turned fantasy into reality when she opened Moonlit Vine on June 20 in Beech Grove, Indiana.
Her venue offers the community something unique.
While Moonlit Vine sells the latest popular titles in sword and sorcery novels, thrillers, mystery and romance, her bookstore at 614 Main St. also serves wine, beer and snacks.
As some customers roamed the shelves July 14, others could be seen reclined in cozy chairs, reading with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Another patron found a seat at the bar – which stretches halfway across the store – to enjoy their newly purchased book with a cup of coffee and a cookie.
Moonlit Vine let’s them do so late into the evening.
Beech Grove bookstore began on a whim
The store is open for business 4:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and closed Sunday and Monday. The late hours are a rare treat for readers when most independent bookstores across Indianapolis close daily between 5-8 p.m.
Maudlin said her decision to start Moonlit Vine came after a fateful trip while she was out walking her dogs.
The 33-year-old had recently moved to Beech Grove after living in Cincinnati during the height of COVID-19. Back when social distancing gave way to self-reflection, the pandemic found Maudlin wondering what life would be like if she owned a bookshop, one with a cozy atmosphere for patrons to unwind.
Flash forward to October 2025. Maudlin had recently moved back to Indiana to work as an IT business analyst. She’d purchased a home and fallen in love with Beech Grove’s Main Street, where she frequently walked.
On one such excursion, an advertisement made her pause.
Some people, you could say, wait for a sign from the universe to change their lives – Maudlin found hers in an 8×12 printed piece of paper that read: ‘Commercial Space For Lease.’
“Has been used as a bar for the past 75 years. Would be ideal location for a ‘Breakfast Cafe’ or a business that will draw people to Main Street and help the redevelopment of the City of Beech Grove,” the sign read.
Maudlin said she decided right then and there to begin writing a new chapter in her life.
As of Monday, July 20, Moonlit Vine has been serving Beech Grove’s reading community for one month. Below are her responses to IndyStar’s Q&A.
What inspired you to open a bookstore?
“It was always a dream of mine to own a bookstore. As an avid reader my entire life, it honestly just felt like one of those things that would always stay a dream and never be reality.”
Why did you choose this particular location?
Maudlin: “I recently moved to Beech Grove in January of 2025 and fell in love with Main Street. I knew if the universe gave me the opportunity this would be the perfect place for a bookstore.”
IndyStar: So what made this building in particular the ‘perfect place?’ Was it the bar for serving wine and food? Or did the building itself not matter so much as the opportunity it presented?
Maudlin: “I’d actually been in this building before it was up for lease when it was a wine bar. A friend and I came in here for a glass of wine and I remember looking at the space and thinking, ‘This is cute. It’s got a lot of character.’ A couple weeks later, there was a ‘For Lease’ sign on the window.
What were the biggest challenges you faced getting the store open?
Maudlin: “Money. Money was probably the biggest hurdle as it is with a lot of things. I tried out a Kickstarter that unfortunately didn’t meet its mark, even though so many people shared and donated to the cause. So the option after that was to try to get a loan. I was so thankful that – after about four months – I was able to secure a SBA loan.”
What kind of vibe are you hoping to create at Moonlit Vine?
Maudlin: “I want it to be a place where people feel cozy and comfortable, a place where you can just come sit and read for a few hours with a drink and a snack. Or meet your friends for a book club and yap and have a memorable time – with the bonus of being able to browse books.”
Does your bookstore specialize in any particular genre? What do you want to be known for?
Maudlin: “I want to try to represent everything as best as I can with the space I have. The store itself I wanted to feel like you’re walking into a magical forest, and I do have more of an emphasis on Romantasy and Fantasy genres of books, but I want to be known for having a good selection of everything, and being able to transport someone into their book with the space I’m providing.”
How do you decide what books to stock?
Maudlin: “Lots of research and seeing what people are currently interested in. As well as a little bit of my own taste sprinkled in.”
What’s the response been like from the community so far?
Maudlin: “Really receptive and excited about the store, which has been so amazing to see. We’re already getting a lot of repeat customers, which makes me so happy.”
Moonlit Vine is open late, serves food, wine and snacks. What inspired that?
Maudlin: “Honestly, it’s really because I still work my day job from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., so opening in the evenings was all I could manage starting out. But I also knew with the bar aspect, opening later for the people who do have jobs like mine would allow them to get off work and come decompress. As we grow, staying open later won’t change.”
Any plans to expand the menu?
Maudlin: “Eventually, yes. We also will have seasonal stuff as well.”
What’s something most people don’t know about running a local bookshop you wish they did?
Maudlin: “I really think what a lot of people don’t see is how much thought we put into curating our books, and how much consideration for our customers we do think about.”
IndyStar: Any recent examples of ‘curation’ or customer consideration you can share?
Maudlin: “Yeah, an early suggestion board I put out for those who visited the store. I take reader’s suggestions to heart when ordering books. Also it makes me think, ‘What’s this author coming out with next because so-and-so likes this person.'”
How do you see your bookstore contributing to the local community?
Maudlin: “I really want Moonlit Vine to be ingrained in the community, from holding special events that raise money for certain causes to helping local schools with their reading programs, or having Moonlit Vine be a place for the community to feel safe and welcome.”
What have you learned from customers in the first weeks?
Maudlin: “That they’re thankful to have a space like Moonlit Vine in their community. Hearing that from so many people has really been rewarding and makes all the hard work worth it.”
Any plans to participate in next year’s Indy Indie Book Crawl?
Maudlin: “Yes! We were a pop-up at the Stutz building this year, and we cannot wait to have everyone at our brick-and-mortar next year.”
Do you host events, book clubs or author visits?
Maudlin: “We have our Desire and Diversity Book Club that focuses on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC authors. We have a local authors’ section where we can set up a day for local authors to come in and sign books – we have a few in the works now. And we’re doing a midnight release party (in October) for ACOTAR 6 (‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’).”
What book to do you wish more people would read?
Maudlin: “‘Throne of Glass.’ It’s my Roman Empire.”
How many books do you own at home?
Maudlin: “I have around 200 books at home right now, and if it weren’t for building my own little library in my house, we would have a problem.”
If you were trapped on a deserted island, what’s the one book you wouldn’t mind reading again and again? (other than a survival book)
Maudlin: “‘Throne of Glass.’ It has eight books in the series so I could keep myself occupied for awhile.”
IndyStar: “OK, but that’s cheating. You can’t pick eight books and call it ‘one’ because it’s in a series.
Maudlin: “But it’s in a boxed set. …No? Alright, ‘Kingdom of Ash’ because it’s a thick book; it’ll take awhile to finish.”
What advice would you give so far for people who want to start their own bookstore?
Maudlin: “Just take the leap. You can overthink and question everything over and over again, but sometimes you just have to jump off the cliff and develop your wings on the way down. And you’ll be surprised how far your wings will take you.”
Start your morning with the top Indy news delivered straight to your inbox with IndyStar’s Daily Briefing. Sign up for free at indystar.com/newsletters.
John Tufts covers trending and breaking news for IndyStar and Midwest Connect. Send him a news tip at John.Tufts@IndyStar.com. Find him on BlueSky at JohnWritesStuff.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How a Beech Grove resident went from avid reader to bookstore owner
Reporting by John Tufts, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By John Tufts, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
