MINNEAPOLIS — Look up when you enter Birchbark Books & Native Arts and you’ll spot a handcrafted canoe hanging above the table of current and favorite books.

An intricately carved Catholic confessional hugs a wall, although according to the store’s frequently asked questions page, it was renamed a “forgiveness booth” after it was rescued from becoming a bar fixture.

At Birchbark, located at 2115 West 21st Street in Minneapolis’s Kenwood neighborhood, there is much to see even before you start browsing its stacks and shelves. “It’s one thing to have algorithms keep suggesting the same books to you, but it’s another thing to walk in,” said the store’s owner, Louise Erdrich. “People are looking at you, and you’re looking at actual books, so that you can be inspired and attracted by a physical book.”