For us, the bound and written word isn’t just our business, it’s our all-consuming obsession. We’re proud to say that Isle of Books is a store with deep Montana roots. Established in 2013 by Medellee Antonioli, a fifth-generation Montana woman, Isle of Books began as a humble amazon account, selling books online. In 2019, after completing a Masters in Library and Information Science at the University of Denver, Medellee returned home and purchased the Used Book Emporium in Bozeman. Within two years, Isle of Books became one of Montana’s largest and highest rated independent bookstores.
In 2020, Medellee purchased her grandmother Jo’s iconic Butte store Books and Books. A few months later, Medellee and her incredible mother Susan Rosten bought and began to restore the historic Southern Hotel in Uptown Butte. Books and Books (now Isle of Books and Books) moved to the larger location in December, which is being filled to the rafters with more new and used books.
Today, between both locations, Isle of Books maintains over 100,000 new and used titles available for sale in-store and online, from every kind of fiction to the whole gamut of nonfiction, as well as records, gifts, and more. Plus, we’ve got the friendliest batch of bibliophiles west of the Mississippi, all of them just aching to make a recommendation. If you’re as book obsessed as us, you’ll want to put both Isle of Books locations on your Montana must-visit list!
