Cheryce browses the fiction section.

By Shari Benyousky
Guest Columnist

WINONA LAKE — “I knew I had a good last name by the time I was 10 or 11,” Sarah Wordhouse told me as she showed me around her brand-new bookstore.

The Word House is located at 25 Kings Highway in Winona Lake, in the Carpet Depot Building on the roundabout. “I had gone to a Writers’ Camp and one of the teachers told me that no matter what, I just HAD to keep my name!” Yes, Sarah’s actual last name is Wordhouse.

Sarah wears a Harvard Sweatshirt and dangling heart earrings. She is friendly and full of information if you want it. “I’ll leave you alone if you like too,” she says as she scoops books from boxes and searches for just the right spot to display each one.

Once you climb the stairs to the second floor of the Depot Building, you enter the gorgeous sapphire jewel colors of one of the coolest bookstores that I’ve ever been in.

The Word House has purchasable art on the walls and nooks and crannies for reading or doing puzzles tucked here and there around the room.

One side has a Kid’s Korner with kid-height shelves and a secret tunnel with toys.

SPOILER – it’s possible for an adult to crawl through the tunnel.

Here’s To The Next Chapter

Sarah Wordhouse owner.

In January of 2023, Sarah moved to Winona Lake from Michigan after graduating with a degree in professional writing and spending time as an editor at Taylor University and Bettie’s Pages, an indie bookstore. She visited friends here and loved how “it was such an amazingly walkable city.” The rest is history.

Sarah is the fifth of 12 siblings and “grew up with books.” She told me her mom always said, “The most important thing you can learn to do is to read. If you can read, you can do anything.” Sarah had intended to open a bookstore “someday as a retirement plan actually, but things just worked out sooner, a LOT sooner.”

Espresso Your Love Of Books

When you enter the Carpet Depot Building, you’ll walk through frenzied activity on the first floor as another business prepares to open — the second location for Three Crowns Coffee (the first is at 941 N. Detroit St.). The new location offers gorgeous views overlooking Winona Lake. Three Crowns roasts their own coffee and warns customers to “prepare to have your taste buds budded.” Soon you’ll be able to discuss your new Word House books with coffee owner Obadiah “Oby” Clemans.

Can I Hang Out With The Books?

I asked Sarah what kind of vibe she was going for in the bookstore.

Entrance to the second floor bookstore in the Depot building.

“I tell people to come hang out!” Sarah exclaimed with a laugh. “Students ask me if they can come do homework, and I say absolutely.” The bookstore clearly welcomes people to come and stay with comfy couches and reading lamps.

“I believe that you have to make things be what you want,” Sarah told me earnestly. “The first step for me was to make a bookstore that I myself would want to shop at.”

Not All Books Are Created Sequel

The Word House has something for everyone: new books, indie books, used books, romances, fiction, non-fiction, spiritual, self-help. You need it? Sarah can find it.

But what if you have too many books already? Sarah does take some donations of used books, and now is accepting romance (“always the best sellers”) and young adult (“actually my favorite category to read”). That may change as she fits her clientele’s needs. YOU should be one of her clients. I walked away with a stack of Christmas gifts.

Book Your Schedule To Attend The Grand Opening

The Word House Grand opening will be Dec. 9th along with Three Crowns Coffee. Keep an eye out at both businesses for more details.

The Word House can be found on Facebook and on Instagram. See you there!

Know of an interesting place or person that you’d like to see featured behind the scenes someday? Send SB Communications LLC an email at [email protected].