When Hurricane Lala forced Kona Stories in Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, to postpone its Bookstore Romance Day celebration on August 15, the indie bookstore gave romance a rain check. As the storm approached Hawai'i Island, local officials asked residents to stay home, keeping roads clear for emergency, utility, and rescue crews. Keauhou Shopping Center, where Kona Stories is located, experienced minimal damage, and the bookstore was able to reopen soon after conditions were safe.
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| Kona Stories bookseller Elena Wagstaff at the store's delayed Bookstore Romance Day. | |
A week later, on August 22, Kona Stories' Romance Day finally arrived, and customers were ready for it. "Much of the celebration was created by bookseller Elena Wagstaff, who joined Kona Stories about a year ago and has quickly become an important part of the store's efforts to keep pace with rapidly changing reader interests," co-owner Brenda Lea McConnell said.
Wagstaff transformed some of the trends she has seen online and in the romance community into an interactive bookstore experience. Customers could purchase "Blind Date with a Book" selections, judge books by their sprayed edges, and add their favorite romance trope to an in-store trope wall. Lollipops, stickers, bookmarks and giveaways added to the festivities.
Games proved especially popular. A soundtrack of songs from romantic movies and television shows played throughout the store, with customers challenged to identify where each song had appeared. Another puzzle asked customers to solve clues identifying characters from romance novels and films.
Wagstaff "also dressed for the occasion in an elaborate romantic dress, which turned out to be more than decoration. The dress signaled to customers that something special was happening and gave her an easy opening to explain the day's activities--and, more importantly, start conversations about romance books," McConnell noted.
The conversations translated into sales, with the bookstore seeing an uptick over a typical Saturday as customers browsed the romance displays, participated in the challenges and asked Wagstaff for recommendations.
McConnell said that for Kona Stories, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, "Wagstaff represents something especially valuable for a longtime independent bookstore: a new generation of booksellers bringing fresh ideas and an instinctive understanding of what younger readers are seeing, discussing and reading.
"The hurricane may have changed the date, but it didn't dampen the romance. If anything, the rescheduled celebration demonstrated that sometimes a bookstore event works best when a bookseller's own enthusiasm becomes the main attraction."