For more than 15 years, Superior has been without an independent bookstore.

“It’s been my dream to have a bookstore in Superior,” Maria Lockwood said. “It has not been my dream to own a bookstore in Superior.”

Yet in August, she found herself opening the doors to Foxes & Fireflies Booksellers. Lockwood has been a reporter at the Superior Telegram for 25 years.

“It just needed to happen. Particularly because the bridge is going to be closing,” she said. “When the Blatnik Bridge closes, traffic is going to be just that much harder going back and forth to Duluth.”

Foxes & Fireflies started with a newspaper story.

“I was writing a story on this WySis VentureHome program,” Lockwood said. “It’s a pre-seed accelerator, which helps small businesses start and grow.”

She decided to fill out an application herself so she could better describe for readers how it worked.

“And I threw it out there, and I’m like, it’ll never happen. I don’t even have a plan; I just have an idea. Well, it happened,” she said.

She started taking small business classes in February, and had an LLC by March. In May, she got an $8,500 community-backed loan through Kiva Kickstarter.

“The thing that made me believe that this could happen was I stopped by Zenith Bookstore. And I said, ‘Hey. What do you think about me opening a bookstore in Superior?’ And they were so excited. They practically hugged us,” Lockwood said.

Foxes & Fireflies is in the old federal building in Superior. Locals probably know it as the old post office. The bookstore has soaring ceilings and marble walls. Her extra inventory is stored in a vault where money and stamps used to be kept.

“I want it to be a community space. I don’t want to just sell books,” Lockwood said. “I want people to come and sit and play a game of checkers. I want them to sit and read one of the books and test drive them for awhile. I want them to turn to somebody and say, ‘Hey, have you read this book?'”

The name is a reflection of the place where we live.

“Foxes are everywhere around here. And they’re also featured in a lot of classic literature. And I love foxes. They’re beautiful. They’re fun. They’re curious, like readers,” Lockwood said. “And then fireflies, when you see that firefly on a summer night, suddenly there’s this burst of light. It’s just like magic. Just like when you find that book, you dive into that book, and you find that magic.”

The store is open from 3-7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Lockwood will also host Silent Book Club, author visits, and more.