One of the hottest tickets this holiday season is passage on the Chicagoland Bookstore Trolley, spreading cheer one hardcover and paperback at a time.

Barnes & Noble plans to open two stores in the city this year, in addition to other locations in suburban Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

This Saturday, bookstores across the country will celebrate their status as indie shops, including two dozen stores across the Chicago area. “It’s like a pub crawl for bookstores,” said Lynn Mooney, co-owner of Women & Children First. 

Online behemoth Amazon will open a brick-and-mortar bookstore in Lakeview next year. What this could mean for independent bookstores and publishers.