Chapel Hill - It doesn't look like much right now -- stripped to the walls, plastic sheeting covering the floors, sawdust and the whir of power saws filling the air -- but if everything goes according to plan, in a month or so the big empty space next Foster's Market on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. will be filled to the brim with books and alive with browsers, buyers, children and authors.

Three local folks with years of experience in the book trade are in the process of opening Flyleaf Books, an independent bookstore that will feature new and used books, children's literature and book-related events such as author readings, book club meetings and open mic nights.

Jamie Fiocco, Land Arnold and Sarah Carr, who all worked at one time or another at McIntyre's Fine Books in Fearrington Village, are partners in the project. Flyleaf is due to open in mid-November in the former Ladies Fitness space next door to Foster's.

"All three of us were looking for something new to do, something that would keep us in the book business and in the area," Fiocco said, sitting with Arnold outside the open door of the shop while carpenters built bookcases inside Thursday morning. "The owner of this shopping center, Ron Strom, was looking for an independent business to anchor it. He asked whether McIntyre's would be interested in opening a location here. McIntyre's passed, and I said, "Well, I might be interested.'"

Flyleaf, due to open in mid-November, will fill a niche -- the independent general audience bookstore featuring primarily new books -- that has been difficult to keep filled ever since the beloved Intimate Bookshop closed 10 years ago.

Market Street Books in Southern Village closed earlier this year, and before that Branch's Books in Village Plaza closed in 2005 after just three years in business. The town has a Borders chain store on its eastern outskirts and a Waldenbooks in University Mall. Downtown, The Bookshop sells used books, and the nonprofit cooperative Internationalist sells books with a liberal activist bent.

"This is a university community without an independent bookstore," Arnold said. "That's not right."

The partners are aware that the sluggish economy makes every business venture these days risky.

But as they explored the possibility of launching the bookstore, the signs kept pointing to yes.

"We tried everything everything we could think of not to do it," Fiocco said. "But it became a perfect storm, and everything kept steering us to do this. We think this is the right time, the right place and the right community.

"There's so much literary history here, and Chapel and Carrboro get the 'buy local, be involved' style we believe in."

They drew up a business plan, Fiocco said, and prepared to seek a small business loan.

"We thought, 'We'll show it to the bank, and when they laugh at us we can put it to rest,'" she said. "But they didn't laugh at all. BB&T completely got it. They've been great. In fact, pretty much everybody we've dealt with has been great."

Including their neighbors in the shopping center, they said. They like their location, along heavily traveled MLK, not far from downtown, in a retail space alongside several popular restaurants.

"We've pretty much been using Foster's as our office," Arnold said. "And our shop will be coffee-friendly, so you can get your coffee there and bring it over here. We've been living on the Foster's, Bada Wings, Flying Burrito meal plan."

The store will have about 4,000 square feet of sales space and another 1,000, in the former Ladies Fitness aerobics room, for sales as well as readings and other events.

The response to the shop has been overwhelmingly positive, Fiocco and Arnold said.

"We're excited," Fiocco said. "People see the signs in the window and walk in all the time to ask when we'll be open.

"People in the book trade are into it, too. I was talking to a pretty big-time editor the other day, telling him what we're doing, and he said, 'Can I work a shift?'"