Changing Hands Bookstore, the award-winning independent Valley bookstore with locations in Tempe and Phoenix, will turn 50 on April 1, with festivities planned to mark this milestone with its customers.

Sharing this anniversary with the community, the store is planning a celebration on Saturday, March 30, at the Tempe Square location, 6428 S McClintock Dr., and the central Phoenix location at The Newton, 300 W Camelback Road, according to a press release. 

Celebrations will feature live music, free activities, birthday cake and a limited-edition 50th-anniversary t-shirt designed by local artist Jon Arvizu. A toast by Changing Hands owners Gayle Shanks, Bob Sommer and Cindy Dach will also take place at the Tempe location.

"For five decades, Changing Hands has served as a community gathering place, bringing readers together through books and ideas," Gayle Shanks, co-founder of Changing Hands, stated in the release. 

"While the book world has changed all around us — from the rise of corporate chains and online megastores to the advent of e-books, digital audiobooks, and the consolidation of the publishing industry — Changing Hands remains.”

Changing Hands Bookstore first opened its doors on April Fool's Day 1974 in downtown Tempe, inspiring the company’s long-running mascot, the Fool, which was adapted from the classic Rider-Waite tarot deck—eyes narrowed, head back, walking off the edge of a cliff into the unknown.

Shanks stated in the release that it seemed fitting given their lack of bookselling experience, adding that they assumed this would only be a short-term endeavor. 

In the 50 years since, Changing Hands has grown to three locations with its third opening in Terminal 4 at Sky Harbor Airport in 2023. It has won many local and national awards and hosted hundreds of the world's biggest authors and celebrities including former presidents Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, Gloria Steinem, Diane Keaton, Rachel Maddow and Pat Benatar to name a few. 

2024 also marks the tenth anniversary of Changing Hands’ second location — home of their First Draft Book Bar — which opened on May 24, 2014, in the historic Beef Eater's restaurant building at 300 W Camelback Road in Phoenix. 

It’s one of a small handful of “book bars” in the U.S. serving wine, craft beer, cider and small bites along with its literary offerings, according to the release.

Changing Hands co-owner Cindy Dach remarked in the release that it’s both astonishing and humbling that a small, community-based, locally-owned bookstore has been in operation for 50 years. 

“The outpouring of support from our customers has been overwhelming,” Dach stated. “We’re looking forward to celebrating our birthday with them this year, starting with a day-long celebration on March 30 in Phoenix and, of course, in Tempe where it all began.”

Learn more about the 50th-anniversary schedule of events at changinghands.com or @changinghands on social media.