For nearly two months, there were no books at Lost City Books. “Don’t panic,” the front door instructed, promising the emptiness was only a hiatus for renovations.

On Saturday, the Adams Morgan bookshop reopens — with all 12 tons of its used, rare, and new books back on their shelves. Lost City owner Adam Waterreus eagerly welcomed the books home: Over the past week, they arrived via truckloads of boxes, labelled, by genre, in neat black handwriting, that he and his staff then unpacked.

Lost City, which closed for the remodeling on Jan. 1, is resuming business with a variety of new features, ranging from bookshelves and tables to lighting and floors. Waterreus says he wanted to update the space for roughly its next decade, and the shop is throwing a party on Feb. 29 to celebrate the completion of the work.

It’s a relatively good time to be part of the District’s indie book scene. Despite the presence of Amazon and other online retailers, the city has seen a renaissance in locally owned bookstores over the past few years, thanks in part to D.C.’s reader-heavy population, proprietors’ creative offerings, and the demise of chain bookstores such as Borders.

A little over a year ago, Waterreus took over from the owners of Idle Time Books, an almost 40-year-old bookstore and a neighborhood staple beloved for its quirkiness and vast selection of used books. (The previous owner’s widow sought out a real estate executive willing to keep the bookstore, despite the valuable real estate, when she sold the building in 2018.)

In the coming months, Waterreus hopes to turn Lost City into a hub for community activities through book clubs—among them, a sci-fi club focused on black feminist authors and organized in partnership with nonprofit group BYP 100. The store also has plans for a queer-narratives book club during the spring Pride season as well as a poetry-reading group. Patrons can also expect workshops and classes taught by local and touring artists on topics like community organizing and restorative justice. Waterreus envisions that Lost City will host author talks and theater performances, too.

“I’m open to everything, and not just book-related,” he tells DCist.

Although the renovations took longer than expected, Waterreus says they went well. “The bookstore itself is a really large, beautiful space in a very busy neighborhood that’s full of wonderful bars and restaurants,” he adds. “The hope is to create a space that complements that.”

Waterreus has more than a decade of experience in the bookselling and publishing industries, including a stint at popular local bookstore Politics and Prose. Having his own shop wasn’t such an odd concept. “But I didn’t think it would happen, and I didn’t think it would happen when it did,” he says.

When he first took over, he pledged to spend his first few months at the store observing, as opposed to making rash changes. So he got behind the counter and met customers to identify what was working and what could be improved.

Ultimately, he decided that while Lost City will mostly carry used books, it will also offer new titles.

“Another bookseller once told me that he brought in new books so he could remain relevant to the community and to the conversation happening in the world,” Waterreus says. “So if someone reads an article or hears about Ocean Vuong’s new novel or the Booker Prize winner, you can be part of that conversation in a way you can’t in just a used bookstore.”

The shop revealed its new name in June. It’s partly an ode to thinking about the past, Waterreus explains, and it hints at discovery and exploration — of digging into something. “It’s that feeling of old knowledge, but at the same time, ‘city’ references an urban environment,” he says. “It was also a bit of a poke at D.C. not being represented as a city, without being too strong.”

Whether Lost City also gets a live-in furry mascot remains to be seen. Though Waterreus is a dog-lover and often brings his German Shepherd, Thea, to work with him, he says his team is considering getting a cat.

Cute felines notwithstanding, the store will welcome curious humans again beginning Saturday.

“D.C. readers are intellectual in a way that challenges me and my staff to bring in both relevant and intellectual books,” notes Waterreus. “People get buried or lose themselves in a section with an eclectic or wide variety of books, and then come back and tell us, ‘This is wonderful. I never see this, and you had it.'”

Lost City Books is located at 2467 18th Street NW. It is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.