(Credit-Photo by: Maze Books)
Incense and warm smiles greet you as you walk into Maze Books. The small bookstore gives off the vibe of a library in a historic mansion. It is decorated with patterned rugs, lamps and book-themed posters.
Maze Books is next to Luna’s Datura’s Curious Gifts in downtown Rockford. Maze’s mission is to bring affordable, hard-to-find books to the community. Paperback books are priced at $3, and hardcovers are $5. Some first-edition books and rare copies go for more.
Rockford natives Kim and Dave Pederson own Maze Books. The couple built the store from the ground up. They filled shelves with donated books. There are even VHS tapes scattered throughout. The Pedersons opened Maze in June 2022.
“I met Kim first. Dave had actually taken classes in the department before I started teaching,” Rock Valley College Mass Communication Chair Jerry LabBuy said. “Kim started a little after that, and then I had her in my very first class, which was an advanced video production class in the fall of 2007.”
Kim and Dave have connections to the community. After doing a live-read event at the 317 Art Gallery, it inspired them to return to Rockford. They began looking around at houses and vacant spaces.
“There was a building for sale on 7th,” Kim said. “I brought it up to Dave. I showed him and expected him to be like, ‘You’re nuts.’ He was like, ‘No, that could work. What would we sell?’ We were looking around our house, and it was like, ‘books?’ Literature is the reason that we wanted to come back. It all just kind of made sense.”
Maze Books is an independent bookstore. That means it’s not run by a corporation.
“Independent bookstores are kind of like independent film. It’s independent in the way the independent film is independent in Hollywood. There are a few memberships that Maze is a part of. We are a part of the American Booksellers Association, which is the largest independent group of booksellers in America.”
The store is also a part of the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association and The Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association. Maze Books gets things from publishers that the big sellers don’t get.
Kim is at Maze Books during the weekends. She works a regular job as the A/V manager for Rockford Public Schools. There she runs and live streams meetings, takes portraits for marketing purposes and makes commercials and videos. She is also an adjunct at Rock Valley College, teaching the Documentary course in the Mass Communication Department.
“Maze means ‘Dave.’ Honestly, this is his baby,” Kim said. “This is his thing, and it’s the thing he is so passionate about. Dave is the heart and soul of Maze. He is there from 12-6, Wednesday through Friday, and is the face most people associate with the bookstore.”
Dave helps create the environment that Maze Books offers. He plans and coordinates events and runs the store’s social media. He stocks the shelves and takes the time to clean and look at every book Maze gets. He is always down for a conversation with the people who visit the store.
“Every downtown that is anything has a bookstore,” Dave said. “You have to have one. You have to have a good bar, a good place that serves good after-bar food, an independent bookstore, an art gallery. There are certain little things and that was missing. It’s a win for us, and it’s a win for the writers.”
Maze Books is a hub for the literary community in Rockford.
“Before we got here, there wasn’t any space for people who are writers: people who are interested in talking about writing and doing live reads, sharing their work and their craft with the community. There was no space for them to do that,” Kim said. “That really is what Dave is trying to do-help bring literature and the literary arts to the same place the visual arts are in Rockford.”
The couple wants people to feel comfortable being themselves when they enter the store. They receive good reviews and support from the community.
“Society is kind of tweaked right now because they want you to be corporate. I don’t know if they want it or if it’s expected because that’s what they see. That is something that has changed people’s beliefs. They think that everything should be sterile and boring,” Dave said.
Colorful characters are always visiting, and other small businesses also support the shop. Luca Sauceda is one of those colorful characters. He met Kim through Mass Communication, and when he heard about Maze Books, he started hanging out around the shop.
“What draws me to Maze Books? You know what’s funny, not the books. I know it’s a bookstore, and they have a great selection of books, but the people draw me to Maze Books. There are two things there. The owners are two of my favorite people on the planet, and I just met them in the last year. I love to chat with them and see who they bring in,” Luca said.
Though Maze Books is a small store, when it has events, it is packed from wall to wall. The store has not even been open for a year, and the community supports what it does.
“I have learned that being an open, welcoming, creative person just brings more and more people in. Maze does all kinds of really cool events,” Luca said. “They are open to letting anyone have a voice, they just have such a great turnout. So to me, the thing that I’ve learned is that maybe it’s not even about the selection or the place because it’s a small place. It’s because of the people. That’s why people come through those doors.”
The store has been successful in the 10 months that it has been open.
“People are happy to give you their money. You feel weird at first. You’re like, ‘Am I like a used car salesman?’ But no, they are happy to give you their money. It’s a weird kind of relationship you build with the community in that way, but it’s positive,” Dave said.
One of Maze’s recent events was the Rockford Area Book Crawl. The Pedersons partnered with four other independent bookstores in the area to bring the joy of reading to the community. The book crawl took place on February 2nd. The stores involved are planning on doing it again next year.
“The poster had a lot to do with it,” Dave said. “The press had a lot to do with it, but mostly the community, which is insane. Every place sold more books than they ever had in one day in the history of their bookstores. We didn’t expect that.”
Next year they want to be able to bring other small businesses in as well.
“I would like to see it be even bigger to spill over into downtown businesses,” Dave said. “We saw that people were going to restaurants. People were going out and having those physical experiences, which I’m not trying to crap on where we’re at with social media or whatever. That’s a part of who were are, but sometimes it is nice to have that. You don’t have to interact with people physically all the time. But when you do have those moments, it’s nice to curate that for the people who think they don’t have that.”
Because of what Maze Books is doing, the Rockford Area Arts Council will have a category for literature. The written word, spoken word and the printed word are all now being included where the visual arts are.
Kim and Dave have worked hard building Maze Books. They continue hosting events and supporting the community. They have a plethora of events every month. On May 20th, at Atwood Park in Rockford, Maze will be hosting an event called “Leafing Through.” This event will have authors, poets, and performers reciting literary works in nature.
Want to learn more?
For information on Maze’s events or on books, you can visit its website: maze-books.com, Facebook @Maze Books or contact Dave at mazebookshop@gmail.com.
