Reginald & Janeice - Detroit Book City

Detroit Book City

By Terry L. Watson

Photos Provided by Detroit Book City

Located in the big city of Detroit, MI is a small and unique Black-owned, independent bookstore that has been feeding the reading appetites of its community for nearly six years. Detroit Book City offers new, used, and rare books. They also specialize in African-American titles for all ages, including infants, toddlers, and adults. Additionally, they offer cultural apparel, mugs, tote bags, African oils and jewelry, incense, vinyl albums (including 45’s records), posters, postcards, and specialty magazines such as vintage Ebony and Jet Magazines.

The visionaries of Detroit Book City are Janeice and Reginald Haynes. They opened the doors in December 2017 and have been committed to serving the public and promoting, preserving, and sustaining Black literature. While Janeice is considered the store’s brainchild, she says it came to fruition with the full support of Reginald.

Janeice is a native Detroiter. She graduated from Detroit Public Schools and described herself as a lifelong learner. Her professional experience involves Human Resources, youth development, advertising, sales, publishing, graphic design, and books! Early in her career, Janeice spearheaded two teen magazines, Detroit Urban Teen and Louisville Urban Teen. In 2005, she launched The Around D-Town Coupon book, a publication that featured Black businesses and offered coupons, highlighting Detroit’s Black history from the early days to the present. In 2008, she added Around D-Town Promotions, which offered t-shirt and graphics design services. Additionally, she hosted an online directory that hyperlinked to over 500 local websites. The directory, www.metrodetroitte.com, connected high school students with opportunities in enrichment, discovery, athletics, community service, and adventure.

In 2022, Detroit Book City added a new family member, their mascot book dog, Brody. Brody accompanies Detroit Book City BookUp! Literacy Day program at school book fairs. Brody’s goal is to educate kids about the importance of reading.

When asked what she loves most about their store, Janeice shared the obvious; they love books and making them accessible to others. “I love waking up in the morning knowing we provide our people access to Black literature daily. Literacy allows us to initiate and participate in discussions, debates, and decisions related to life and our culture. Having access to books written by African Americans, across all genres for all ages, is priceless,” Janeice said. “I can’t accurately express the happiness I feel when I see new, beautifully written, and illustrated books hit the market, and we’re able to connect readers to them when they walk in our magical bookstore”.

Reginald has worked as a full-time professional Spray Painter for 27 years. He is the proud owner of Hollywood Tees. This Black-owned print company offers cultural apparel, mugs, African oils, and African jewelry, soaps and shea butter, incense, and men’s watches. Reginald is also the backbone of Detroit Book City, and he manages the off-site book fairs and provides soulful music and sounds at the store’s events in his role as DJ Holly.

Detroit Book City hosts several cultural book fairs throughout the year. These include the A-A Family Book Expo, the Juneteenth Book Fair, the Fall Family Book Fair, and Holiday Book Festival which features Black independent writers. “We take these events to the neighborhoods, and the valuable feedback is profound,” they said. “Detroit Book City amplifies Black voices, and we strive to keep the legacy of Black literature alive in Metro Detroit. We offer space to host book signings at our store and website for independent authors through the Black Indie Author Directory.”

www.detroitbookcity.com