ENID—Chloe Fuksa never dreamed she’d own a bookstore, much less sell thousands of books to her community.
“It was never on my radar,” the owner of Putnam Six Bookstore said.
The Chisholm High graduate had gone to Colorado for college, then spent three years at Oklahoma’s Capitol as an assistant to Enid Reps. Chad Caldwell and John Enns.
But as the legislator’s term was coming to an end, Fuksa saw the fork in the road—move on or move home.
She returned to Enid, and on Christmas Eve in 2017, “I sat right up in bed and thought, ‘I need to open a bookstore,’” she said.
Hastings had just closed and Fuksa determined her hometown needed a bookstore where people could purchase new releases for readers both young and old.
Within 10 months, Putnam Six Bookstore was born.
The dad of her predecessor at the Capitol is her landlord, her own father offered his construction skills, her mother offered her legal and accounting skills, and Fuksa bought the bookshelves from Hastings after it closed. She set up the interior of the shop after the flooring and painting was finished.
“Everything fell into place. It was a God thing,” she stated. She officially opened to the public in October 2018.
Fuksa said she had “no clue how to run a business” as she never attended business school, so she turned to Enid Regional Development Alliance for guidance alongside “a lot of Googling.”
What she did know, however, is that she loved books and she loved her hometown.
“My end goal was I knew what customers should feel like when they come in,” she said.
That was seven years ago.
In June 2025, she sold her 50,000th book.
A place of community
The store is partially named for Robert Putnam, author of “Bowling Alone,” a non-fiction book about the lack of community in America and the lack of meaningful social interaction. And the number 6 is Fuksa’s lucky number, hence the other part of the bookstore’s name.
“I wanted my bookstore to be a place where people can come together and have a sense of community,” she said, thus the tag line “Books • People • Community”.
Fuksa knows people can buy their new releases elsewhere for cheaper, but there is something about shopping local that keeps patrons coming back through her doors.
“You can touch and feel or flip through the books here (versus online) plus you support the local economy,” she said.
When the COVID-19 pandemic happened, Putnam Six Bookstore actually thrived.
It was “cash mobbed” in May 2020 at the encouragement of the Facebook forum Enid Cash Mob, and that turned out to be one of the top 5 busiest days to date, Fuksa said.
“I felt the love,” she said. She quickly adapted to the new way of doing business, throwing up the bookstore’s website in a week and offering either delivery on the doorstep around town or curbside pickup out front of the store, which is located in the Sunset Plaza shopping center not far from Hobby Lobby.
Fuksa also added what she calls “sidelines” to her store such as puzzles, candles, greeting cards, bookmarks, and book bags.
She has built a strong kid’s section within her bookstore, which was part of her original business plan, and hopes maybe by her 10th anniversary to expand and even have a separate room just for her young readers.
Fuksa told the Enid News & Eagle not long after she opened in October 2018 that “I want families to come in here. I want kids to fall in love with reading. I want them to grow up with a book in front of their face and not a screen.”
She has collaborated with local schools and rural public libraries to foster that sense of wonder and imagination. Every year she participates in the Public Library of Enid and Garfield County’s AuthorFest, and she has done popups at locally owned coffee shops and breweries in town.
Turning the page
Fuksa believes that more and more Americans want to turn the page.
“The pendulum is swinging back to hardcopy books in hand … there’s nothing like an actual book,” she said.
Books themselves are trending these days—color sprayed edges, special editions, and works of art on the cover and/or inside covers.
Also, Fuksa said, books make great gifts because they’re more personal. Many patrons have come to purchase board books for baby showers, she said.
She is happy to give book recommendations too. She’s been writing monthly book reviews for the Enid Monthly magazine for four years.
The bookstore now offers a monthly book subscription modeled after the national Book of the Month Club to help make the choice easier when looking to buy a new release. Every month except December Fuksa touts six new releases from a range of genres; patrons sign up via email to subscribe and get 10% off their purchase of those new releases.
There is also a loyalty card program; get one punch for every $10 spent. A full hole-punched card means 10% off the next purchase.
Folks can come hang out on the couch or in a comfy chair and read. Drinks with lids are allowed inside the store. Patrons also can cuddle with the two rescue dogs that live with Fuksa—Finnegan the Irish wolfhound and Ollie the birddog beagle.
Fuksa’s bookstore is in the same shopping mall strip where Hastings once was, tucked in between a Dollar General and what is now Mazen’s Mediterranean Grill (located inside the former Costello’s).
“I still get people who don’t know I’m here,” Fuksa said shrugging as the door dinged indicating another patron walking in.
Putnam Six Bookstore, 610 S. Cleveland, Suite 212, Enid, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Follow the bookstore on Facebook and Instagram or go to the website putnamsix.com.
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Photo credit: Billy Hefton
See the article and photos in full-color in the January-February 2026 edition of ETown: etownmagazine-cnhi.newsmemory.com