Little Professor Bookshop has always been more than a bookstore. Even as this Homewood staple expands with a second location in Pepper Place, Meredith Robinson and McCall Hardison are determined that Little Professor will continue to be a community-driven hub.
Meredith and her husband Jonathan took ownership of Little Professor in February 2020 to reenergize the store (originally opened in ’72 and a mainstay in Homewood since the early 90s). In October of 2021, McCall Hardison signed on as marketing director, and after several weeks of hosting Saturday pop-ups, Little Professor Pepper Place officially opened in November 2022.
We chatted with Meredith and McCall to learn more about the future of Little Professor Bookshop, their must-read picks for the year, and even tips on how best to tackle our reading lists. Meet our newest FACES of Birmingham – Meredith Robinson and McCall Hardison.
Co-owner Meredith Robinson and Marketing Director McCall Hardison are helping to usher in a new and vibrant era for Little Professor Bookshop – one of Alabama’s oldest independent bookstores. Image: Elise Ferrer
Meredith, what inspired you and your husband to take over Little Professor?
We saw an opportunity in Homewood, and (it came) out of our own desire to create a place where our family could have weekly rhythms. Reading is really important to us and something we want to champion with our children. (If Little Professor had closed) that could be a significant loss in the community. It felt like a place where we could contribute some new life and energy.
McCall, why did you want to come on board as director of marketing?
I’ve been a lifelong reader. I love reading. I’ve had a book club for a long time, and it felt like I could take all this stuff that I love – marketing, events, creating community — [and combine it] with people I love. It felt like a nice culmination of many things I care about. So, it was kind of a no-brainer.
Meredith, how has McCall helped with the growth of Little Professor?
You’re spread very thin as an owner, so it is important to prop yourself against capable people who understand the vision, want to execute it alongside you, and have the same values and goals in mind. She is a partner in a big way — helping to be another face in the community, steering and generating events, ideating with us, and being a sounding board. She was the perfect, natural fit to help us to grow Little Professor to a new level.
Meredith, who co-owns Little Professor with her husband Jonathan, is proud of the shop’s robust selection of children’s books. “Reading is really important to us and something we want to champion with our children,” she says. Image: Elise Ferrer
Congratulations on the new Pepper Place location! What do you plan to do differently at this store?
McCall: The Pepper Place location is a beautiful space. We’re lucky to be a part of the historic Pepper Place development. One thing we’re doing differently is to have more events — it’s even a place that you can rent for yourself. We really want someone to have a rehearsal dinner or a wedding because it’s the perfect place for some bookish people! It’s a much more flexible space to host. I think we could get at least 100 people in that space for an event.
Tell us more about the membership program you created for customers.
Meredith: We are not ignorant of the fact that we are in a very competitive industry with big box stores and Amazon. So, we started it as a way to reimagine local and compete on a pricing level. We feel like one of the ways to compete with that is to offer people a pricing discount, and a membership gives us the opportunity to do that.
Maybe your arrival point is because you want to save money, but we hope that that thread starts to get woven a little bit deeper into the fabric of who Little Professor is. What membership actually means is that you are drawn into a larger picture that is the heartbeat of the store. We aim for that to be a community, not just a point of transaction.
A staple in Homewood for decades, Little Professor has another location in Pepper Place!
How does the membership program work?
McCall: It’s $79 for a year, and you get 40% off of bestselling books and 20% off of every purchase. Members get priority access to different fun events throughout the year. Some of our events sell out, and our book clubs fill up fast. Members get free coffee whenever they’re in the shop. And members’ kids get a free book on their birthday.
What book clubs do you offer at the shop?
Meredith: We rotate them quarterly, and we typically have three to four going at the same time. Literary fiction is always one of our themes. But, for instance, in the fall, McCall and I did mystery and thriller for the spooky season. We adjust some of the themes based on seasonality.
McCall: We have a fantasy book club. We have escapist fiction, literary fiction, and coming-of-age. And we are introducing a new one — a writing book club.
We love having that three-book series (for the quarterly book clubs) because we want people to build relationships. This summer, people in our book club started going out for drinks, which was wonderful.
Throughout the year, Little Professor hosts several family-friendly community events.
In a world where Amazon is a household name, why are local bookstores still important? What role do they play in local communities?
Meredith: One of the biggest markers of being successful locally is our level of customer service. When you walk in the door, it’s very important to us that you feel invited in to experience something. One of the things that we hear most often by way of positive feedback is that you’re talking to a real person who not only knows your tastes but maybe what you did on the weekend. Or perhaps they know your family. What you take from that experience holds much more weight and intrinsic value than just purchasing a book.
I also think we’re fatigued in decision-making. Getting on the internet and combing for hours trying to figure out what to read feels overwhelming. So, to have someone guide you, to take the masses of books and drill it down to three choices that feel handpicked for you, is such a wonderful experience.
Meredith and McCall believe that what sets Little Professor apart from big box book retailers is the shop’s efforts to build community – which they do, in part, by hosting events like Holiday Rom-Com Night. Image: Elise Ferrer
What are you reading right now?
Meredith: I am currently reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I am a mystery thriller reader, so this feels right up my alley. But I typically lean more toward new releases. This is a classic people rave about all the time, but I just hadn’t read it yet.
McCall: I picked up Barbara Kingsolver’s new Demon Copperhead.
What’s in your “to be read” stack?
Meredith: Our book club book is going to read Palm Beach by Mary Adkins. Everything Sad is Untrue (by Daniel Nayeri) has been on my list.
McCall: The Prince Harry book Spare is definitely of interest to me. I want to read a little bit more narrative nonfiction this year. So, I’m starting off with Inheritance by Dani Shapiro. Emily Henry, a prolific bestselling writer for women’s beach reads, has a book coming out in April – Happy Place.
What’s your best advice for people who want to read more?
Meredith: I was a struggling reader. My husband has always been a voracious reader, and I’ve felt like the straggler of the two of us. I feel like it took reading the right things. Like exercise or anything where you have to develop a rhythm, finding the right thing that worked for me or really held my attention helped get me started again.
Also, remember that you set the goal. Don’t create a reading goal that feels overwhelming; start with something that feels more achievable.
McCall: Joining a book club is one of the best things you can do. It gets you around other people who are reading. Being in a book club brings you into that world and gets you more excited.
And I always say, “Don’t be too good for something popular.” It’s probably popular for a reason.
Name three things you can’t live without.
Meredith: Plain La Croix, white tennis shoes, and my Dyson cordless vacuum.
McCall: Airpods, my Fellow Electric Kettle (with many tea bags), and Outdoor Voices CloudKnit.
Little Professor hosts several book clubs throughout the year, including escapist fiction, literary fiction, fantasy, and coming-of-age.
All photography courtesy of Audrey Nicole Photography unless otherwise noted.
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