Published June 4, 2026 at 1:22 PM EDT

If you've ever been standing outside of the Chapel Hill rock club Local 506, you've probably noticed the mysterious, graffiti-covered door to your right. Open it up and climb the creaky staircase and you'll find yourself in Attic 506, an art space that hosts occasional film screenings, pop up markets, and workshops.

This past April, Attic 506 also became home to Read Band Books, a book store dedicated to books about music.

The shop is owned and operated by local music obsessive and Carrboro resident Virginia Sloop, who has been collecting books about music and going to shows in the Triangle for decades.

"We've been kicking the idea around for about a year but the minute it had a name, it was like, well, now it has to happen," she said.

Sloop says that like a lot of good ideas around town, the name for the shop arose over drinks at Carrboro's Orange County Social Club. She credits her friend Mark Smith with coining the name after running the concept by him at the bar.

"One day he texted me out of the blue with the words 'Read Band Books,'" she said. "I wrote back and said, 'I'll sign the lease tomorrow.'"

When the shop first opened in April it was mainly stocked with collections that had been donated by local friends and musicians from around town. Since then, Read Band Books has grown its inventory to approximately 2,000 books in its tight, roughly 200 square-foot space. That collection ranges from works about the history of Chapel Hill's music scene in the 1990s to the biography of Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon.

"There are a lot of books in here that are very obscure and very niche," Sloop said.

Though it's a small operation, Virginia Sloop isn't the only person keeping the shop running. She's joined by her 19 year old kid Rose Sloop, who serves as Read Band Books' shop keeper.

Rose says that as someone who grew up in a house with music-obsessed parents, it's fun to share their knowledge with people who come into the store.

"I listen to a lot of contemporary music but also a lot of older stuff," Rose said. "Getting to introduce people my age to bands like The Velvet Underground is really cool."

Rose also dabbles in graphic design, and came up with the store's logo which is based off of the artwork for Virginia's favorite book "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk" by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.

"There's a lot of graphic design that goes into running a business," Rose said. "It's something I've just fallen into doing. I've done a lot of digital art, but graphic design is kind of technical and has always felt a little intimidating."

Read Banned Books is located at 506 W Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

In the future Sloop hopes that the shop becomes a space where she can host book events for both local and national authors.