Emry's Bookshop will be opening next month in the Port Royal Plaza at 95 Mathews Dr. in Hilton Head Island, S.C. The Island Packet reported that co-owners Emily Baker and Rachel Baker "have a very close, mother-daughter relationship. They have learned to separate their 50-50 business partner relationship to their life at home. The two said it was easy for them to work together because, even if they butted heads, they knew they had each other, no matter what."
Emily Baker originally moved to Bluffton, S.C., for a job at Book Warehouse in the Tanger Outlets, while Rachel Baker was drawn to the Lowcountry to become a local in the "place we would have retired anyway."
"It is so wonderful opening a store with your family, specifically with my mom, because we have been best friends for the majority of our life," Emily Baker said, adding that the inspiration for launching a bookshop together came from her awareness of the area's need for a local bookstore. "We knew that we both always loved books. She raised me with a huge library in the house."
Rachel Baker recalled her visits with her daughter at Book Warehouse, where she "noticed how many people came in to talk about the books," the Island Packet wrote. "She said she also noticed how sad many people were that Book Warehouse was closing. As sad as it was for locals, it marked an opportunity in the market for a place where people can come in and read, as if they were in their very own living room."
The owners are designing Emry's Bookshop to be cozy and warm, and are looking for a welcoming, vintage library feeling. "Being someone who is in the younger generation living in the area, I felt that we had a lack of spaces to hang out or to socialize that's not a restaurant or a bar or the beach," Emily Baker said.
"I just want you to walk in and eventually feel like family, like we know who you are, you know who we are," Rachel Baker added. "We care about more than just you buying books, but like how's your life? What's going on? We want to keep in touch with people like that."