Winding down with a glass of wine and a book in hand is a comfort many look forward to at the end of the day. Nestled in the heart of Stone Mountain Village sits The Vibrary, a wine and book bar that binds that feeling of escape and peace between the pages of local works and in drops of vino. For owner Candace Walker, it’s a vision that began when she was just a child.
A Michigan native, Walker moved to Stone Mountain during her middle school years to join her mother, who had already relocated to Georgia. It was her mother who fanned the flames of her love of reading, encouraging her to do book reports during the summer. Walker shared she would often get in trouble for reading late into the night, where her books would often transport her to different worlds. However, as she got older and life started getting busier, she found she couldn’t read as much.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and life slowed down, she said it renewed her passion for reading. Coupled with her weekly happy hours on Zoom with her friends, where they would drink wine and discuss life and books, the beginning chapters of The Vibrary began to form in Walker’s head.
When she saw that the building perched at the intersection of Main Street and E. Mountain Street was vacant, she knew she wanted to create a space where people could find peace and quiet within themselves and also create community—all in the area she’s called home for many years.
From birthday parties and baby showers to first dates that led to an engagement party where the couple first met, Walker has witnessed many of life’s significant celebrations at The Vibrary that still stick with her today since she opened in 2021. It has also been a resource for authors as a place to host book signings and meet-and-greets.
“I love the connections that I see being made here. I love the connections that I’ve made. I also just really enjoy people turning back to books,” Walker said. “I feel like our attention span is competing with so many different things, and when people come in here, multiple people have said,’ Wow, I didn’t even realize how long I was in here’ or ‘It’s like you can’t even hear what’s going on outside.’ It’s just so comfortable. It’s a cocoon.
“I just feel like it was important because the vision was given to me, I wanted to be obedient to bringing that vision to fruition. Because if I didn’t, I felt like I would be blocking somebody else’s blessings.”
With rich dark colors and pops of color to velvet couches, plants and artwork of Black women all set to the soundtrack of smooth R&B music, Walker intended to create a space that reminded her of her home. An LED sign tucked into a corner of the room reads “Good Vibes Only.”
The selection of for-sale books, mostly by Black women authors, range from fantasy to modern romance, mystery, education, art and history. The wine and book bar has sections where people can pick from selections of just local authors, and also a section where people can donate books or “leave and take” a book, highlighting the sharing aspect that makes reading a fun community activity.
Photo by Kerri Phox/The Atlanta Voice
Walker also rotates the wine selection, featuring the wine label she owns and other Black women-owned wines, such as Theopolis Vineyards by Theodora Lee and Random Whine by Kaye Jackson, that patrons can pair with the bar’s offering of charcuterie boards.
“I chose the books because I felt we needed more books highlighting women protagonists, or Black women or women of color. And I also felt it was important to have books here for people who were not Black to have access to in a safe space to ask questions or interact with people. The space is for anybody who is respectful. We are a community here, so it’s all kinds of age ranges, races, and sexual orientations. We all just have a good time. If people have good vibes, they fit.”
When creating The Vibrary, Walker was intentional about creating a Black-owned and operated third space in Stone Mountain Village. Stone Mountain’s Confederate history is still embedded in the city and carved against the face of the mountain itself, but Walker recalled the shift when she began to see Black people walking along the red brick sidewalks and historic buildings.
“I was like, what’s happening? Is something going on? Is the area changing?
She knew she wanted to establish a business outside of Downtown, Midtown, or Buckhead where Stone Mountain locals could conduct business, have meetings, create and decompress without driving for miles away from their homes.
“I felt like it was important because it’s nothing like that over here. I live over here, but every time I wanted to do something, I had to drive to the city. I had to drive to Decatur, and I don’t feel like Decatur and the city are inherently better than Stone Mountain. So, I felt like having something like this for people who live on this side or live close to here was important, because I just knew that I was annoyed having to drive to go do something fun or a place where you can go that’s not necessarily your home and not necessarily work.”
As she continues to build with the hopes of expanding Vibrary to other areas, Walker said she carries the memory and legacy of her grandmother, who also owned a bookstore in Michigan. Though it wasn’t as successful, the memory of her grandmother’s courage and her family’s push for education has spurred her on.
“I’ve done hard things before, and once I put my mind to something, I feel like I can complete it. So it was just rewarding to see it come to fruition and rewarding to see that other people enjoy the space.”