Downtown Bethesda has a new bookstore, Wonderland Books—a needed spot in the community after its Barnes & Noble closed in 2018 and an Amazon Books closed in 2022.
Though Wonderland’s grand opening—with giveaways—is this Saturday, December 14, it opened its doors on Monday. The store spans more than 2,000 square feet, and features adult, young adult, and children’s books, as well as cards, stationary, toys, and gifts.
The venture marks a new chapter for co-owners Amy Joyce and Gayle Weiswasser, two longtime friends who have worked and lived in the DC area for years. Joyce is a former journalist who was at The Washington Post for 28 years and was known for writing the “On Parenting” column. Weiswasser is a former lawyer and corporate communications executive who has published a book-review blog, Every Day I Write the Book, since 2006 and co-hosted a podcast, The Readerly Report, about books and reading for eight years.
The store’s name is partly inspired by the last stop on Boston subway’s Blue Line: Wonderland. When Weiswasser was in college at Harvard, she used to look at the map and think, “That sounds so exotic, wonderful, and different from law school. I wish I was in Wonderland.” While Wonderland isn’t exactly the land of Oz—a short-lived amusement park and a Greyhound dog track used to mark the stop—Joyce says she also liked the name, because “growing up, books were a wonder, an escape, a magical place to go. As a 50-year-old woman, I still find bookstores to be my Wonderland.”
The pair originally hoped to open in the fall, and are grateful for the community’s support thus far. “We’ve been so moved by Bethesda’s response to this bookstore and appreciate everyone’s patience as we turned the space into something welcoming and exciting for readers of all ages,” Weiswasser says. “It is a joy to see people in the store, discovering new reads.”
Wonderland Books is at 7920B Norfolk Ave., between St. Elmo and Cordell avenues, in Bethesda. It can be found at wonderlandbooks.com, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, as well as storefronts on Bookshop and Libro.FM. It’s open 10 AM to 7 PM Monday through Saturday and 11 to 5 on Sundays.
