Coffee table books, though they don’t technically need to be stacked on a table, are both delightful to look at and make quite a statement about your varied interests. Here are a few recommendations that can be found at local shops:

Books pictured from top to bottom:

• 1000 Record Covers by Michael Ochs ($20) at Atomic Books.
• Inspire Your Home by Farah Merhi ($35) at The Ivy Bookshop.
• Birds of North America edited by Francois Vuilleumier ($40) at Charm City Books.
• Glory: Magical Visions of Black Beauty by Kahran and Regis Bethencourt ($30) at Charm City Books.
• Mid-Century Modern Design: A Complete Sourcebook by Dominic Bradbury ($50) at The Ivy Bookshop.
• Living with Nature: Decorating with the Rhythms of the Seasons by Marie Masureel ($42.50) at The Ivy Bookshop.
• The Look of the Book: Jackets, Covers, and Art at the Edges of Literature by Peter Mendelsund and David J. Alworth ($50) at Atomic Books.
• The Monocle Book of Japan by Tyler Brûlé, Andrew Tuck, Fiona Wilson, and Joe Pickard ($65) at Atomic Books.
• Atlas of Animal Adventures: A Collection of Nature’s Most Unmissable Events, Epic Migrations and Extraordinary Behaviours by Rachel Williams, Emily Hawkins, and illustrated by Lucy Letherland ($35) at The Children’s Bookstore.

Heywood Wakefield lounge chair sourced and reupholstered by 605 Mod ($950) at Taken: Forever Reinventing. Dracaena Marginata plant ($40) and wicker basket ($12) from B.Willow.

When Julie Lilienfeld looked around her vintage and consignment store, Wishbone Reserve, on Sunday, she could tell that something was off. The streets outside the Hampden shop were empty, there was plenty of parking on Falls Road, and the number of customers browsing through the store’s antique wares had dropped significantly since the day prior.

That was when Lilienfeld and co-owners Athena Hoffberger and Ryan Haase realized that they needed to prepare for their business to take a financial hit as the coronavirus and its effects continue to impact Baltimore communities.

“This is the kind of experience that you see documentaries about, but you don’t think will actually happen during your lifetime,” Lilienfeld says.

As the city braces for the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, small business owners are concerned about how directives for limiting exposure to the virus—including “social distancing,” public-school closures, and event cancellations—will hurt their bottom lines and, ultimately, the lifespan of their business. On Friday, Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young sent a letter to Gov. Larry Hogan asking him to make federal funds available to Baltimore-based small businesses through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

Due to the Center for Disease Control’s recommendation that people avoid crowds or large gatherings as much as possible, Pamela Hubbard, the co-owner of Lobo, says that her Fells Point corner bar has experienced a significant decline in business throughout the past two weeks. While Hubbard says the restaurant staff has always taken sanitation precautions, such as regular hand washing and wearing gloves, she’s worried about how Lobo can financially sustain a weeks or months-long slowdown in table turnover.

“You can prepare for a refrigerator to break or having to pay someone to fix your plumbing, but the cost of a pandemic is not something you have funds set aside for,” Hubbard says.

While Gov. Larry Hogan’s latest statements only cancelled public gatherings of more than 250 people, many business owners, like Daven Ralston of Charm City Books, made the decision to adjust their event schedules for the safety of themselves and their customers.

“We host tons of events each month, so it’s concerning to think about what that will do to sales heading into the spring,” says Ralston, who opened the Pigtown bookstore in November. “It’s a scary precipice to be balancing.”

A number of local shops and service providers have communicated directly with consumers about the additional measures they’re taking to keep their still-open storefronts clean and safe. On Thursday, Letta Moore, the owner of KSM Candle Co., sent out a message to her email subscribers to notify them about temporary changes to her in-house workshops, such as switching from glass stemware to disposable cups.

“If small businesses are explaining to their customers what they’re doing to combat the virus, take heed and have a little trust in them,” Moore says. “We’re boosting our efforts and it’s not cheap for us either, so I hope people consider continuing to go out and supporting the businesses when possible. Don’t give up on us.”

To combat the decrease in foot traffic and loss of revenue associated with in-house events, local purveyors are finding new ways to meet customers where they are. Several retailers, such as Brightside Boutique and Six2Six Society, are offering free or discounted shipping for online orders, while others, like Wishbone Reserve, are posting their merchandise to Instagram so buyers can shop virtually. Ralston says that she and Joseph Carlson, Charm City Books’ programming and outreach director, will deliver books and puzzles via their tandem bicycle to area customers for free.

Chanel Fleurimond, who runs Sobeachy Haitian Cuisine with her husband, Leo, says that while they don’t usually fill many delivery orders from their food stall in Cross Street Market, they plan to ramp up their efforts if business to the communal eatery remains stagnant. Fleurimond says that if people don’t want to risk visiting the Federal Hill food hall, getting Sobeachy’s traditional Haitian dishes delivered to their home is a great way to continue supporting the local venture.

Hubbard adds that purchasing a gift certificate to a local bar, restaurant, or coffee shop to be used at a later date can help boost cash flow to businesses during this slow economic period.

“[Lobo is] turning six years old this summer and we were looking forward to planning our party, and now, so quickly, a wrench got thrown into that,” Hubbard says. “People need to be aware that your favorite places to go or eat in the city are already feeling the impact of this, and will continue to have to make hard decisions about their entire business because of it.”

In light of the extremely uncertain and ever-changing circumstances, members of the small-business community are also leaning on one another, as well as local customers, for support. On Thursday, the event technology service Pixilated and networking community Startup Soiree created an online forum for Baltimore-based business owners and employees to address COVID-19-related concerns, ranging from software tools to minimize the coronavirus’ impact to links to local resources.

“We talk so much about the importance of community to local bookstores, but it really is like a relationship and a family, especially in Pigtown,” Ralston says. “If another business is hurting, we have to reach out and support them in any way we can.”

Earlier this week, the Wishbone Reserve store leaders posted a message to their Instagram followers that led with the phrase, “In like a lion, out like a lamb.” While the English proverb is typically used to describe March weather, Lilienfeld says that, deep down, she wanted the line to send a message of positivity to the shop’s worried customers.

“I don’t want people to be sympathetic; that’s not really what we’re looking for. We want them to know that them coming into [Wishbone Reserve] has been paying all of our bills,” Lilienfeld says. “We want to be truthful with people and say that we’re scared, too.”

Every neighborhood deserves a good bookstore—a place where kids and adults alike can find their next read, hear from their favorite local author, and talk with fellow bibliophiles. That sense of community is what inspired local actress and author Daven Ralston and her husband, Joseph Carlson, to open Charm City Books, a two-story independent bookshop that is the first of its kind in Pigtown. “All of my best memories as a kid had to do with books,” says Ralston, reflecting on her bookstore-ownership origin story.

With their combined experience as actors, musicians, and teachers in the Baltimore area, she and Carlson are keen on making Charm City Books a hub for creatives. Operating out of a former Baltimore Police Department substation on the neighborhood’s main strip, the month-old shop is the multipurpose community space that the couple has been dreaming of opening for several years.

The first floor’s bookshelves—stacked with general interest books, with special attention to those penned by marginalized voices—can be easily moved to convert the room into a performance area. Upstairs, the shop’s second floor features plenty of room for all kinds of gatherings and events, including everything from live music sets to early childhood development workshops. “People don’t just go in to buy things,” Ralston says. “They go in for the community feel and the curation.”

“In general, we want to end up being what the community needs,” says Ralston. They hope to eventually increase the number of bookings in the performance areas and become a community meeting place in a district hungry for lively spaces. For now, the bookstore will focus on bringing great books, as well as literary and performing arts programming, to the area. “The neighborhood has a really strong sense of their history, and it’s very special,” Ralston says. “Everybody wants to help each other. You don’t get that everywhere.”