By Zoe Perzo
This time last year, Plot Twist Books in South Charleston, West Virginia, announced the addition of an Airbnb to their bookstore. The fully furnished room adjoining the bookstore boasted a private entrance and 24/7 access to the shop. Immediately enamored with the idea of spending the night in a bookstore, I made a mental note (and several physical ones) to check in with Plot Twist in the future to see how the Airbnb was working out. So, a year after the announcement, I met with Plot Twist co-owner, Matt Browning, to learn more about him, the bookstore, and the Airbnb.
Bookstores were a large part of Browning’s life long before he opened his own.
“Whenever I traveled, I would go to bookstores,” he explained. “Then I started blogging about them and Instagramming them. When the pandemic happened, I started podcasting. I do a podcast called Bookstore Explorer, where I talk to independent booksellers. And I would always tell them, ‘I want to do what you do when I retire…’ ”
But whenever he shared his dream with booksellers, they encouraged him to open a bookstore sooner rather than later.
“They all said, ‘You should do it while you can, while you have another source of income, while you’re young enough to carry heavy boxes of books, and while the industry is in a good place,’” Browning recalled.
So, in March of 2023, Matt Browning and his co-owner Brian Mann opened Plot Twist Books. Originally a residence, Browning said it took some creative thinking to convert the house into a bookshop but that he’s thrilled with the results.
“We’ve turned it into something special and the community has really embraced us,” he said.
Browning and Mann both still maintain “day jobs” in addition to their work at Plot Twist. But as the store has grown, they’ve been able to take on additional staff and expand the store’s hours. They also split the crucial responsibilities, with Mann handling the financials, and Browning taking the lead on aspects like curating the inventory and day to day management.
The Airbnb room, which they’ve named The Bookshop Bungalow, occupies a room built onto the original house. Originally, Browning and Mann had hoped to use the space for events, but when it became clear it was too small, they started brainstorming other ideas.
“I had known of Wigtown, the book village in Scotland,” Browning explained. “It’s a village with a cluster of bookshops, and one of them lets people stay at the bookshop and run it. So we decided to adapt that [model].”
“We converted the extra room. It has its own private entrance, but it also connects to the building. Guests can roam the shop 24 hours a day if they want to. We also throw in a few perks — a credit on used books, a discount on new books, and an honorary staff pick.”
Before a guest arrives, Browning will reach out to them to ask their favorite book. Then he’ll add it to the inventory and let the guest write up a special shelf talker for it.
“It’s been so much fun,” Browning said. “It’s really taken off. We’ve had people come from as close as down the street and as far away as Massachusetts and Florida.”
While anyone can book the Airbnb, the experience is designed for guests who are interested in learning about independent bookstores. The staff at Plot Twist will take guests “behind the shelves” to show them how the store is run. And so far, Browning has had several guests book to learn about indie bookstores before opening their own.
While Plot Twist and The Bookshop Bungalow have been a success, Browning said it hasn’t been without challenges. 
For the most part, they’ve faced challenges any business owner would: initial funding, renovating the space, finding the right balance of inventory, etc. But Airbnb management has thus far been no issue.
Since guests can access the bookstore at any hour, one of the most common questions Browning gets is: Aren’t you concerned about theft? While it’s a concern, Browning says it hasn’t been an issue yet.
“The people that have stayed are book lovers and respect the space, and we throw in a lot of perks so there’s no reason for theft to occur,” Browning explained. “We also interact with them — it’s not an Airbnb where you come in and don’t see the owner. If we spend an hour talking to you, then we come back and you’ve trashed the place, that would be a little odd.”
In addition to the Airbnb, Plot Twist also regularly holds small events. Since the shop has no space for large events, they’ve cultivated partnerships with the nearby Women’s Club and local library that they can call on whenever they need more space.
“Everybody has been welcoming and open to collaboration,” he said. “When we started, somebody asked us, ‘Aren’t you going to be competing with the library?’ And we were like, ‘No. We’re going to be collaborators.’ “
Even though they’re technically competitors, Browning loves the “camaraderie” and collaborative energy he sees among indie booksellers, both when hosting Bookstore Explorer and now that he’s a bookstore owner himself.
Plot Twist has accomplished a lot in a year and a half: the store was even named West Virginia’s Best Independent Bookstore by WV Living last year, and is in the running again this year!
If you find yourself in West Virginia, don’t forget to stop by Plot Twist Books or try a night in The Bookshop Bungalow. You can also find Plot Twist online at their website, Facebook, or Instagram.