Watermark Books, which aims to be a well-curated space with a wide variety of offerings, opened earlier this month at 131 Turner St. in Beaufort, N.C. Co-owner Laura Benson told the Triangle Business Journal that the goal is to make the bookshop a welcoming third place where people can gather and connect. A former executive director of Durham's Partnership for Children, she and her husband, business executive Walt Sliva, have had a home in Beaufort since 2007.
"We always were committed to supporting the small-business economy in Carteret County and Beaufort," she said, adding that when the Covid pandemic hit they shifted their lives to the coast.
"They started looking to help small businesses with micro-funding through their First Rung Foundation. That led to conversations about what the community needed, and Benson said they learned overwhelmingly that the area wanted an independent bookstore," the Triangle Business Journal wrote.
"There was such a strong outcry for a gathering place, a multigenerational, truly independent bookstore," Benson said.
Sliva, who is from Nashville, Tenn., had a connection to author and Parnassus Books owner Ann Patchett. "We were in Nashville and I did an information interview with Ann," Benson recalled. "I had in mind that Beaufort would have its own independent bookstore."
She followed Patchett's advice and attended Paz & Associates' bookstore bootcamp on Amelia Island, Fla., to learn the business, as did Watermark co-owner Kathy Hollinshed. "So we feel like we've armed ourselves but we are still learning a lot," Benson said.
With a business background and capital to invest, location was the next priority. Through their First Step Foundation they bought the storefront on Turner Street, just a block from Front Street and the waterway. The 2,200-square-foot space can hold 10,000 books and still have room in the back for events.
Two employees, led by general manager Lisa Tuchek, run Watermark Books on a daily basis. The owners have a sense of the revenue they need to make the project work, and that a strong start--and the fact that they control the building--gives them confidence they will be in business for a while in a community that is growing.
"Books connect people," she said. "They add to our learning and literacy and expand our world."