""I went to Wordstock in 2005 when it was still Wordstock, and I felt like I had walked into the world I should have been in my whole life,""
""I said, 'You know, when we retire, it would be fun to open a bookstore.' It was like, I just threw it out in the universe, and things started happening.""
""We were pretty small at the time, but we just kept going. And then everyone thought that books were going to be over, that it was going to be all eBooks.""
Beach Books celebrated its 20th anniversary in November. Owner Karen Emmerling and her husband John opened the 2,500-square-foot store in Seaside after Emmerling attended Wordstock in 2005 and decided to pursue bookselling. The store sits blocks from the beach and attracts loyal customers nationwide. Early challenges included the rise of Amazon and predictions that eBooks would end print sales; Beach Books experimented with selling Kobo devices but persisted. The business grew from an empty-nester ambition into a successful independent bookstore that weathered industry upheaval through adaptation and sustained customer support.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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