Local Business Spotlight: Dog-Eared Pages (Paid Subscribers Only)

This month, the Decatur Independent is pleased to announce we're launching the local business spotlight series! Our 2026 reader survey indicated that you wanted more coverage of local businesses and we're thrilled to kick this off by highlighting Dog-Eared Pages, Greensburg's own independent, woman-owned bookstore. If you have any suggestions for future local business spotlights, contact the Independent at n.maxwell2@proton.me or 812-565-9423. We do not receive financial compensation from businesses featured in the local business spotlight.

Business Spotlight: Dog-Eared Pages

Noelle Maxwell

“I've always loved independent bookstores. I feel like, even though they all sell books, they're all so unique,” every store has something different, every store has its own atmosphere, said Dog-Eared Pages owner Taylor Hauk. Hauk said her time on the Main Street Greensburg board and seeing their community survey results inspired her to open the store. “For the last several years in the top five of what the community was looking for,” a bookstore was always on the list. “That,” Hauk said “really put it in my head like, ‘oh, this is something the community would like to see,” and then it really snowballed from there and next thing I knew, I was [searching] how to get started and working on that plan.”

The name and logo originate with Hauk’s love of dogs – she doesn’t recall exactly how she came up with the name but felt “we have a lot of stuff here,” named “Greensburg or Tree City or something,” and wanted to stand out. She also didn’t know she’d be downtown or that she’d have a physical location right away, but she knew she wanted to be dog-friendly if she did have a brick-and-mortar shop. The logo was some art Hauk had previously commissioned from an artist on Etsy and the dogs in the logo are the three dogs Hauk and her husband, Cory, owned prior to having kids, “those were our first kiddos before we actually had our kids.”

Hauk knew she wanted her shop to be a third space in the community – something that’s neither work nor home – and she’s built it to be exactly that and then some, giving customers like Nichole Brown the opportunity to launch a monthly book club. “She,” Hauk said of Brown, “had reached out and said, ‘hey, I want to start a book club, is that something we can do here at the store?’ And, I was like ‘absolutely, please, take the reins on that!' So, she was the one who got our first book club started," last year. Since then, another customer started a spicy romance book club and Hauk launched what she described as a “low pressure” audiobook walking club.

Beyond book clubs, Dog-Eared Pages gives back, supporting a different local non-profit or good cause each month. Recent examples are a Christmas in July fundraiser supporting the Greensburg Daily News Cheer Fund shoebox drive and period packs for Champions of Youth. Hauk also aims to keep her store a safe space for all and carries works by LGBTQIA+ authors and displays “Safe Space” stickers and a rainbow flag sign in her shop window.

Audiobook Club Newest Addition

The audiobook walking club, Hauk believes, is ideal for people who maybe don’t want to contribute to a conversation on books but still want a sense of community – people can bring whatever audiobook they’re listening to, the club doesn’t pick out a book each month, and everyone walks for an hour while listening to their book. The club meets once a month at Rebekah Park and spends approximately an hour walking the pedestrian trail while listening to a book. The next meeting is August 30 at 3:30 PM.

Hauk noted her friendships with members of the LGBTQIA+ community, hearing them talk about places they visited where they didn’t feel welcome, were one motivation to ensuring her shop was safe and welcoming for all.

“Personally,” Hauk said, “I feel like the LGBTQ+ community – it’s not harming anybody. It may go against your religious beliefs but, Jesus said ‘love everybody.’ So, love everybody.” Her other motivation – and a general inspiration to her as a business owner – is her aunt. “I grew up with a lesbian aunt who is now married to her wife,” Hauk explained, noting her aunt lives in Kentucky and works as a physical therapist, “they’ve been married I think 10 years or a little more and she’s been a really big role model for me,” as another example of a woman who owns a business.  Hauk is honored that her store is a place where anyone can feel welcome and carries childrens’ books for all types of families, whether that’s “two moms, two dads, different things – because I want everybody to find a book that resonates with them.”

Community, generally, is Hauk’s favorite part of running a bookstore. “I’ve met so many people that are local that I’m not sure we would have met otherwise,” Hauk observed, “but we have this common ground. They became customers and many of them are now friends.”

The most challenging part of running a bookstore? “Trying to decide and figure out what an entire community wants to read,” Hauk said, and choosing orders accordingly. “I’ve gotten that narrowed down,” she noted “but, I’ve also started carrying little gift items and have found people like coming to bookstores for that kind of thing!”

Dog-Eared Pages is open 10 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday and 10 AM to 4 PM on Saturdays. They’re on Facebook and Instagram. Books and ebooks can be purchased online via https://bookshop.org/shop/dogearedpagesgreensburg and audiobooks can be purchased through Libro FM at: https://libro.fm/dogearedpages.