San Marcos’ indie bookstore finds a new home
Cicero said that, “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” If this is true — that a room can be without meaning and purpose without books — then perhaps the same could be said for a town without a bookshop.
Thankfully, San Marcos’ time without an indie bookstore was relatively short thanks to Wade Vetiver and the Green Heron Bookshop. Vetiver opened Green Heron in February on West Hopkins only two years after Half Price Books closed its doors. Green Heron currently occupies one corner of The Young Building, along with Vetiver’s original business, Solidago Apothecary.
Now, due to both shops’ success, Vetiver is relocating to a larger building — a steamboat Victorian house built in 1865 — located at 504 Burleson.
A graduate from Texas State, Vetiver studied science and herbalism before transitioning into healthcare, where he worked for over 10 years.
“I worked in massage therapy-yogaspa world for a majority of my youth,” Vetiver said. “That’s a different kind of healing. The goal was always to have a business, primarily centered around healing, wellness and spirituality.”
With that in mind, Vetiver opened Solidago — the name of which comes from the Latin word “solida,” meaning “to make whole.” Then once the front see
space of The Young Building became available, Vetiver saw the opportunity to bring another kind of healing to San Marcos, this time in the form of books.
“Joy has been the core of everything, not just for me but for the whole community,” Vetiver said. “I really wanted to create something that enriches the fabric of the community: having a place to hang, poetry readings, book clubs, all of those types of things.”
With that as a starting place, Vetiver did community outreach to find what
Reading is a bridge between the dream world and reality... I find that really magical.
— Wade Vetiver,
