There’s a very cool bookstore in Seattle called Third Place Books. They’re a general interest bookstore with over 200,000 new, used, and bargain books. Third Place Books has a commons area with several restaurants and live music Friday & Saturday nights. Plus, they hold tons of awesome author events (last summer I attended a signing with, among others, Lisa Schroeder, Mandy Hubbard, and Kimberly Derting, and this January I saw John and Hank Green’s Nerdfighters show there!). All in all, Third Place Books is fantastic, but that’s precisely why the store’s name used to perplex me. Why would any bookstore — any company — want to be third place?

I did a little research…

From Third Place Books’ website:

Sociologist Ray Oldenberg suggests that each of us needs three places: first is the home; second is the workplace or school; and beyond lies the place where people from all walks of life interact, experiencing and celebrating their commonality as well as their diversity. It is a third place. In his celebrated book, The Great Good Place, Oldenberg discusses how the cafes, pubs, town squares and other gathering places make a community stronger and bring people together. Third Place Books has something for everyone.  Whether you need to study, host a community meeting, or get out of the house for the evening, we hope you will make this your third place.

Awesome, right?

So, tell me: What’s your THIRD PLACE?