Books & Company: Woven into the Fabric of Oconomowoc

For the past 22 years, Diana Cohen has owned Books & Company in the small town of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Located between the major cities of Milwaukee and Madison in Wisconsin's Lake Country, Oconomowoc was named Coo-No-Mo-Wauk by the Potowatomi Indians for "where the waters meet."

The store first occupied about 1,300 square feet, but after several moves and expansions, it is now a spacious 4,200 square feet. Located in a strip mall, Books & Company adjoins a Stone Creek Coffee Shop, with a set of double doors between them. Cohen told BTW that this gives her all the advantages of having a cafe in the store without having to run it.

With a population of well under 20,000, Oconomowoc, Cohen said, "is small enough that it retains a sense of community; the area has a strong identity. We offer live music every Saturday night, and there are always a lot of grandparents babysitting, young couples on dates and others with children, and students, too young for bars, out for the evening.

"We joined Book Sense at the beginning. One of the biggest advantages to us has been the Book Sense Bestseller List -- it truly reflects what we sell," said Cohen. "Before Book Sense, when we used the New York Times list, [we found] it wasn't useful for us. We find that book groups pick up fliers for Book Sense Picks and use them. There's a high correlation between our book groups and the Book Sense lists. Now that we have high speed Internet access in the store -- finally -- we can start using our gift cards.

"We're woven into the fabric of the community," Cohen noted. "One of the quintessential examples of that is that we are one of the places in town where people can get their flu shots. We do it not because we gain anything by it, but because we provide something to the community." --Nomi Schwartz