Despite its once-predicted demise, the printed book is alive and well.

And the same is true of independent bookstores, whose numbers have doubled nationally in the last eight years.

Riding that wave is a new addition to St. Anthony Park’s Milton Square. Acorn Bookshop will be housed in the former upstairs Micawber’s Books space.

The new store, scheduled to open in March, will offer a collection of new and used books across genres. It will emphasize women authors, diverse and underrepresented stories, historical fiction and young adult (YA), plus jewelry, greeting cards, candles and toys.

The shop will host book clubs, children’s story hours, local author readings and workshops that invite the neighborhood to shape the space. Acorn Bookshop will also be home to a dirty soda shop featuring custom, literary-themed beverages made with organic syrups.

Acorn Bookshop is the brainchild of Rachael Ostrom, who recently left a corporate marketing career of 25 years, most of that at the Aveda Corporation. She’s a life-long reader who became obsessed with Louisa May Alcott after reading “Little Women” in third grade.

As a communication major at Hamline University, Ostrom took as many literature courses as she could.

“Opening a bookstore has been in the back of mind for years,” she says. “My niece and I regularly do Saturday bookstore crawls, and I’ve long thought about what I’d do if I had my own store. The day I decided to get serious about it I walked by Milton Square and saw that the old Micawber’s space was available. It just seemed meant to be.”

She says that she was inspired by the candidacy of her friend Kaohly Her. “I figured if she can run for mayor, I can open a bookstore.”

Ostrom says the store was named for the towering oak trees in her backyard and is a nod to how reading can plant seeds of growth, compassion and empathy.

“We need community more than ever,” she says, “as well as the strength of women’s voices and the ability to drive change. Bookstores have been beacons of democracy and protectors of freedom of speech.”

Ostrom says that Acorn Bookshop’s furnishings reflect an emphasis on sustainability and inclusivity, including vintage and secondhand furnishings from local vendors as well as gifts from woman-owned small businesses.

In addition, the store will partner with reforestation initiatives to plant a tree with every book purchase, “ensuring that the paper we read from gives back to the forests that created it.”

Ostrom says she’ll aim to have 75 percent of new books be by women authors. The mix of titles and genres will shift, adjusting to input from patrons.

The store will also have a children’s section featuring an oak tree mural and an earth-bound treehouse. Throughout the store there will be places to sit and read.

“I hope the store will be a place where people want to come and hang out,” Ostrom says.

Acorn Bookshop will take special orders, and eventually those can be placed on the store’s website. Their used-book section will start with donations from local readers. The store will also feature local authors.

Ostrom plans to install a Little Free Library in the Milton Square courtyard.

“With the LFL and (the new) Mind’s Eye Comics downstairs (at Milton Square) and the library across the street, this corner will be a tribute to books and reading.”

Dave Healy lives in St. Anthony Park and is a former editor of the Park Bugle.