Island Bookstore in Duck, Corolla, and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Ursula Rickman

After 10 years of running two bookstores primarily for tourists on the Outer Banks of the North Carolina coast, Bill and Ursula Rickman have added a third location, intended to attract year-round residents, in the historic community of Kitty Hawk. All three locations are named Island Bookstore. The first, opened 15 years ago and purchased by the Rickmans in 1996, is in the town of Duck; the second, in Corolla, was opened by the Rickmans in 2001; and the Kitty Hawk location opened on May 8. A grand opening for the Kitty Hawk store is slated for the second or third week in June.

Bill Rickman and Meaghan Leenaarts

Each week, roughly from Memorial Day to Labor Day, 300,000 to 400,000 people make the slow trip across the Wright Memorial Bridge, to reach the northern end of North

Carolina's barrier islands. Many have one-week vacation rentals and hail from New York, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and all points in between. Visitors to the area often visit Duck and Corolla on rainy days to enjoy the boutique shops and restaurants.

Bill Rickman came to the area after spending 30 years as a bookseller at Kroch's & Brentano's in Chicago, where he rose to the position of president and CEO. He and Ursula began their new venture with a one-story store in Duck. Since then, they have expanded it to include the second floor, and the store now offers more than 44,000 titles in 2,400 square feet. In 2001, in nearby Corolla, home of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the Rickmans built a second store, of similar size, on the site of an old general store.

Rickman, who served on the ABA Board while at Kroch's and Brentano's in the 1980's, said that he and his wife looked for a community where they could actively handsell. "Initially we started looking in many good bookselling communities," said Rickman. "The niche we discovered was in seasonal stores, like in the Outer Banks, where the big chains weren't rolling out. And we found more readers than we could have hoped for."

All three Island Bookstore locations are open year-round, closed only on Christmas Day, but business does not boom in the two tourist towns other than during the three or four months of summer and near-summer. Marketing manager Meaghan Leenaarts told BTW that the staff continues to work during the quiet fall and winter months and the stores are still open everyday, albeit the hours are shorter during the off-season.

Upstairs at Corolla.

"We plan for the summer, catch up on paperwork, contact authors, schedule readings, and events," Leenaarts said. However, selling books, even in the winter, has become easier since Island Bookstore launched a BookSense.com site. "The first year was kind of slow," Leenaarts told BTW. "But in the last six months, we've gotten a lot of business. Summer people order books from their homes and others order online and then come in to pick up the books. People also find out about events, like author signings, and, if they can't come, they can reserve copies through the site. Feedback is very good."

The new store in Kitty Hawk has been developed with a different marketing strategy. In announcing the opening, Rickman said that he "looks forward to catering to the needs of year-round residents from Southern Shores to Nags Head. For years, we've met the demands of a seasonal crowd in Corolla and Duck. Now we'd like to provide for locals a great general bookstore with an excellent selection of current hardcovers and paperbacks, book club selections, author signings, and, new to the Outer Banks, an extensive selection of magazines and periodicals." Books on all subjects will be stocked, and, like the other two stores, 25 percent of the inventory will be devoted to children.

Exterior of Kitty Hawk.

Leenaarts talked to BTW about the bookstore's goal of promoting the concept of local residents supporting local businesses. "For a lot of our year-round residents, the perception is that there are better deals on books at big box stores or online. By opening a location in the heart of 'town,' we're hoping to not only to alter that perception but also to encourage the notion of buying local. We are, essentially, a mom-and-pop community that supports one another. The goal is to maintain that sense of community. We are hoping to become a true locals' destination, and to encourage reading as well."

Periodicals, Leenaarts said, will be a big draw for local shoppers. "Other than at Wal-Mart or the supermarket, there is no place to buy magazines, and the selection there is very limited," she explained. "We have 400 titles, with a very wide selection -- literary, science, lifestyle." The Kitty Hawk store will also display summer reading lists and hold summer programs connected to the schools. Discounts will be offered for teachers and frequent customers to help build local interest in the new store.

Leenaarts, who also handles the store's advertising, events, and public relations, finds a lot of work easier now that the store has begun using Constant Contact to manage its e-mail newsletter. "I love Constant Contact -- the more I play with it, the more I expand what I can do with it."

The Island stores all post the weekly Book Sense Bestseller List and then discount the week's hardcover bestsellers. Leenaarts told BTW that they distribute the Book Sense Picks lists to all customers and make a point of having all of the books on those lists.

Sometimes authors contact Leenaarts because they want to combine a trip to the area with a reading, an arrangement that often works out very well for both parties. Other authors appearing at the store are local favorites. In June, popular author David Payne will read from his new book, Back to Wando Passo (HarperCollins), at the Duck store. And sometimes an author writes a book with a title so evocative that many visitors to the area, and local residents, will no doubt want to meet the writer and take a copy home. This year that would have to be Maria Hudgin's mystery, published by Five Star, Death of an Obnoxious Tourist. --Nomi Schwartz