Jeff Hanway ’09, Kegan Hanway ’10, and Kaitlin Chandler ’11
Lost your copy of The Iliad? Need to check out contemporary queer fiction? Want to cry happy tears as you thumb through a best-selling romance?
Then you’ve come to the right place: Grit City Books.
A trio of Puget Sound alumni launched the independent bookstore online in 2023, followed by a brick-and-mortar store opening in May 2024 on Tacoma’s trendy Sixth Avenue.
The three Loggers who recently opened Grit City Books in Tacoma hope it becomes a gathering space for those who love learning.
Married couple Jeff ’09 and Kegan Hanway ’10, along with business partner Kaitlin Chandler ’11, germinated the concept for their enterprise during the pandemic. The Hanways were going stir-crazy in work-from-home corporate jobs, so they rented a dog-friendly coworking space as an escape. That’s where they met Chandler, and discovered their mutual Logger backgrounds.
“I can’t say ‘no’ to dogs,” Chandler says. And none of the three, it turns out, can say ‘no’ to a good book.
As soon as you open the door to Grit City’s light, airy storefront, the distinctive smell of fresh ink on crisp pages hits you. That’s because it sells only new (or newly printed) books. A partnership with libro.fm offers audiobooks, and customers can direct a portion of audiobook sales to Grit City.
As a queer-owned business, Grit City strives to be a welcoming place for people of all stripes. Kegan Hanway talks about growing up in a small town, knowing you’re different: “I know what a bookstore like this would have done to help me identify pieces of myself.”
Jeff Hanway, a former business consultant, and Chandler, with a background in retail, now devote full-time to Grit City, while Kegan Hanway is still working a corporate gig to help pay the bills.
They want the business to reflect their values. They host author events, poetry readings, and drag story time with family-friendly performances. “We want to be more than a bookstore,” Jeff Hanway says. “We want to create a community gathering space where there is a shared love of learning, literature, and increasing knowledge.”
