By: Maria Genovezos, Follow South Jersey Community Journalist
MAYS LANDING, NJ – Nicole Cutrone is a lifelong reader and book collector. With just three crates of books, her pop-up bookstore flourished and is now opening Bookery inside Carousel Collectibles in Mays Landing on February 5.
A full circle moment, Bookery’s first pop-up began in June 2025, at Carousel Collectibles.
“Once we’ve grown, and with the community response we received, I didn’t expect it already for Carousel Collectibles to offer us a nook in their store, and it’s just so great with how my dining room is overflowing with books,” Cutrone said.
Before the opening of Bookery, Cutrone worked from home at a marketing firm that allowed her to move to Mays Landing with the purpose of being closer to her family. Unfortunately, after moving, she found herself unexpectedly laid off from her acquired firm.
“I was stuck and really thought about what I wanted to do next. What was my next chapter? I took it as an opportunity to do something,” Cutrone said.
While reading “Sweet Success” by Candace Nelson, Cutrone was inspired to take this opportunity, her lifelong passion for books, and her need for a community, and began a new chapter in her life.
Curtone’s education focused on visual communications, and her experiences with marketing, photography, and selling baked goods in her past laid the foundation of Bookery. With her prior experience and the books she has acquired over the years, Cutrone realized she had everything she needed to begin her new chapter.
“I was like, what can I do to meet like-minded people, and also be happy with it as a career? That’s when I was like books, business, and it came together, and I realized I had the foundation,” Cutrone said.
She registered Bookery in May and held her first pop-up event at the Carousel Collectibles in June, 2025.
Beginning with just a table, a sign printed from VistaPrint, and a couple of crates of used books, everything started DIY, and her main goal was to see if people were interested in it.
“It was very simple. I went very simple with the merch. I wanted it to just be the books, and I had just started,” Cutrone said.
Today, her pop-up bookstores entail three tables, ten crates of used and new books, and merchandise such as assorted bookmarks, stickers, pens, and totes. Cutrone will continue Bookery’s pop-ups, with the next one at Garden State Beer Company, Feb 22, following their books and brews.
Given that Cutrone began with used books, she accepts donations, and even if the books are damaged, she extends her love for them by creating packs of ephemera.
“What I do is, I save them all, and I rip out all the interesting material, and I make them, it’s called bookery bits,” Cutrone said.
Creating and giving to a community is important to Cutrone and is deeply rooted in her mission of Bookery. Bookery’s mission is to make books accessible and affordable while fostering a welcoming literary community rooted in nostalgia, creativity, and curiosity.
The need to connect with her community has driven her to be successful, and has become a core value of Bookery.
“Feeling connected to the place I chose to move to is really important to me, and having other people involved, especially the art community,” Cutrone said. She also extends to the community by donating books to churches and other local non-profit organizations.
Bookery has gained a loyal audience throughout 2025, and throughout this journey, has celebrated local NJ authors such as Jennifer Renson.
“I hope to always have a local author section and showcase some of our awesome NJ authors that we have,” Cutrone said.
Bookery’s browsing space aims to host community events, including bring your own book, book club, author talks, and book crafts.
With the opening in February, Bookery is ready for Valentine’s Day with romance and fantasy novels with beautiful covers that are pink and purple, perfectly fitted for the month filled with charm.
Carousel Collectibles is filled with antiques and collectible items, in addition to a craft studio in the back.
“The first official pop-up was at Carousel Collectibles, so it makes sense for us to begin there; it’s like a natural progression,” Cutrone said. “They were the first place we popped up, and now they’re the first place that we’re going to have a nook.”
For more information about Bookery, check out their Facebook page by clicking here.
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