Opening a bookstore is no small feat. Will Evans learned this the hard way earlier this year. After founding Deep Vellum Publishing, a nonprofit translation house, in 2014 to immediate critical acclaim, he'd signed a one-year lease on a Commerce Street building, where he planned to open a small, independent bookstore.

In June, six months after a well-attended launch party, Evans announced on Facebook that he planned to close the shop if he couldn't find someone to take it over. Deep Vellum Books hadn't even officially opened.

"I really, really want to raise my hand on this one," wrote Anne Hollander when she heard that Deep Vellum Books needed a new operator. Today she is running the Dallas store. ((Ting Shen / The Dallas Morning News))

"Anybody want to run a bookstore?" Evans asked in the post, which explained he was stepping back because of a baby on the way and a new day job.

That post reached Anne Hollander, a marketing consultant with a background in law and technology, who was growing tired of the corporate world. She shared it with the comment, "I really, really want to raise my hand on this one."

Hollander wasn't the only person who found the idea appealing. But when a mutual friend introduced Hollander to Evans, he dropped the other inquiries.

That's why she's running the place today.

Hollander's interest and cash investment earned her the title of co-founder. She inherits the space and Evans' ambitions, but his role, he says, will be only "curatorial," while he moves on to a new role with the production company Cinestate.

Plans are in place for her to take over the publishing side of the business, a nonprofit that she said has struggled to make money. Deep Vellum Publishing plans to honor contracts it has in place for several books; after that, she'll work closely with Evans to pick future publications, they say.

Hollander is aware of the many challenges ahead, but she's following her dream anyway.

"When I started reviewing where they were financially, it was awfully ambitious," she says. "I wanted to draw some realistic projections. But from that first meeting I remember thinking, 'Oh, no, I'm going to open a bookstore.'"

She envisions a store that exclusively carries titles from independent publishing houses and caters to both the literary community and the general reader in its 1,200-square-foot space on the corner of Commerce and Walton Streets. In a city effectively devoid of nonchain, nonbar stores that carry new books, it will be one of a kind.

Last month, she signed a lease to stay in the space for 15 years.

Since taking over, she has finished out the bookcases and the kitchen, reaching out to the store's neighbor, Tobeto Design, for custom-fabricated bar stools and a ladder to reach the books on the top shelves. She established the processes and procedures from operational hours to an inventory system. Her main priority was integrating both herself and the store into the neighborhood and the literary community. Because in some ways, she came out of nowhere.

"One of my biggest fears was not being accepted because even though I love books, I'm not the most literary person," says Hollander. "But the ABCs of what we're doing here is accessible books and culture."

Hollander struck up partnerships with members of the literary community, such as author and poet Joe Milazzo, who recently launched a series called "Other People's Poetry" in the store. They've hosted concerts, plays, book signings and more.

She also partnered with Uplift Luna Preparatory on Elm Street. Once a week, she works as a mentor for an enrichment program in business marketing. Twice a week, she works with the reading program. Top-tier readers in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades walk down to the shop for a literary discussion on books chosen by Hollander for each group. The middle school director, Kristina Nanini, calls these outings, "The envy of the school."

For Hollander, this community buy-in has been integral to her first 90 days running the shop. In that time, she's seen the business side improve. During the store's six-month soft opening, the shop sold about 30 books per month. It was barely enough to cover the bills, even with a sweetheart deal from the landlord, Madison Partners. Hollander says now they go through 300 to 320 each month. By the end of the year her goal is to sell 1,000 books each month.

"Madison Partners is very excited that Deep Vellum Books signed a lease that establishes Deep Vellum as a long term Deep Ellum tenant," says Jonathan Hetzel, who works at Madison Partners and serves as the president for the Deep Ellum Foundation. "Deep Vellum's cultural contributions to the neighborhood provide significant benefits above and beyond the pure economics of the lease."

Hollander is already brainstorming plans to expand. First, she's looking at the Casa Linda area in Lakewood, where she wants to open a store focused on family and children's books; then, Preston Hollow, with an emphasis on classics and first editions.

"I want the shop to be a place that better supports good writers, especially the ones who need support or exposure," Hollander said, "Whether that's local or national or international."

This goal fits with the mission of Deep Vellum Publishing, which translates works by international authors into English with the mission of uniting cultures. In the future, Hollander plans to get more involved with the publishing company as well. For now, she's still pinching herself that she spends every day surrounded by books.

"I own a bookstore," she said, leaning over the counter on a recent morning, a smile stretched across her face. "The more I say it, the less strange it sounds. I own a bookstore."

Lauren Smart is a writer based in Dallas.