YVIE MEETS… LOT DOUZE, OWNER OF BOOKSTORE OVER HET WATER.
Lot Douze “missed a place in Noord where you meet people and where the contacts go deeper than just daily chats.” So when the storefront at Van der Pekstraat 59 became available in 2013, she seized her chance. “I wanted to start a bookstore, but not a regular one. It had to be a community for lovers of stories and ideas.”
New worlds
Lot has loved books since childhood. “Reading teaches you about life,” she says. “You can live your life following the example of your parents or friends, but reading teaches you to look beyond that. Books introduce you to new worlds. They inspire and help you develop.”
Book consultation
Now, ten years since its opening, the store is everything Lot hoped it would be, and more. Her personal touch has created a loyal customer base. “I know my customers and know what they like to read. As a result, they always come back.”
For those who have not been to the store before or have yet to discover their reading preferences, the book consultation offers the perfect solution. An hour of talking with Lot about your interests and walk of life earns you a real reading report that includes tips for books that perfectly fit your needs. Also a great gift for someone else!
Photography: Loeta Aarden
“READING TEACHES YOU ABOUT LIFE.”
– Lot Douze, owner of Bookstore Over het water
Personal note
On Tuesdays you will find Aby behind the counter. He is a children’s book author and illustrator as well. His own books are also on display, of course. With a personal note from the author himself on the cover. How nice is that?
So much more
Lot and child Luc also share their enthusiasm for literature in the bi-weekly podcast ‘De Lezers’. The reading tips fly around your ears. Want to sink even deeper into what you read? Then take the ‘deep reading’ course. In six evenings you will enrich your reading experience to the core. And as if that were not enough, there is something going on in the store on a regular basis as well: intimate theater performances, readings by writers, activities around children’s book week and much more. Reading is boring? Don’t think so!
Tip: In Over het Water you’ll find a whole shelf full of books about Amsterdam-Noord. Writers from Noord, such as Bas Kok and Massih Hutak, describe the development that Noord is going through and what this means for the Noorders of the first hour. A must read for newcomers to Amsterdam-Noord!
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