Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lisa Misosky. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

Most recently the thoughts of having ‘just a regular job’ happened this past October and November when one of my businesses came under attack by Christofascist ‘pastors’ and the ‘proud boys’. The Anti-Defamation League called due to ‘chatter’ that they’d picked up. Previously, a couple of ‘pastors’ who lean so far to the right that they’re more fascist than Christian had been targeting us over a charity bingo that we’ve hosted for several years… apparently it only came to their attention when we were partnering with a local music promoter to raise money and toys for kids in foster care. So… we had about 9 or 10 armed protestors and around 40 counter protestors to who surrounded our building to help keep us and our patrons and staff safe. Since then, we’ve had one active shooter training and have two more, more intensive trainings scheduled. We’ve upgraded our security systems and insurance and I’ve updated my will. My conclusion is this:
Three of my uncles fought fascism in WW2 overseas. It’s 80+ years later and I’m now fighting it in my hometown from people who aren’t from these hills and hollers. My family goes back 7 generations here in Blount County.
I’m not leaving.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Southland was started in 1992 by David Slough who I knew from my time at another bookstore in Knoxville. I was working my first “adult’ job after finishing at University of Tennessee. I was miserable. It was a Dilbert type job in a cubicle pushing papers. I was still living in Knoxville and my grandmother was living in Maryville. She’d mentioned that there was a bookstore opening and I dismissed it. She conveniently ‘forgot’ something at the grocery store where David was putting in the shop. Lo and behold, he was there the sunday that we went by and we had a moment to chat. I offered to work for free as I was that miserable in the ‘adult’ job. My entual plan had been to attend law school… that never happened. I quit my job Labor Day weekend and told David that my availability was now open. Turned out, he didn’t like people. So, he turned the day to day operations over to me. We grew from the original 850 sq ft to 1800 sq feet within a year. I started a side job to be able to save enough money to buy the shop from David. That purchase happened in 1999. In 2003, I moved the shop nearer to downtown Maryville and that space was 2500 sq feet. It was at that point that I began adding in basic cafe stuffs… fresh coffee and brownies and muffins. The next move in 2005/6 was to a 5000 sq ft space that allowed the cafe to grow as it had already demonstrated that there was a demand. I subcontracted the cafe to others and watched them flounder due to health or personal reasons. At that point, Catherine Frye and I took it over and she took on the role of running the cafe day to day. She is the other owner of SBC. She also bakes all the breads and runs both the upstairs and downstairs kitchen as well as designs the menus. Eventually she began baking fresh breads and we ended up buying our present location. The bookstore encompasses 3200 sq feet and the cafe is approx 2200 sq ft. In 2018 we added in The Bird & the Book, our take on a restaurant and bar and event space. We have hosted a wide array of events over the last several years including book signings, candidates for US President ( Marianne Williamson), governor JB Smiley and Craig Fitzhugh, celebrities such as Felissa Rose, Chris Kattan, Jimmy JJ Walker, musicians such as Adeem the Artist, Folk is People, and Sam Lewis. And of course once a month we started hosting a monthly Drag Queen Bingo with the monies raised going back to local charities. Since we started that particular event, we’ve raised and donated over 50,000! In the past four months or so, a ‘pastor’ who’s relocated here from the Pacific Northwest has waged a campaign of hate against all drag shows and LGBTQ folks in particular. He’s recruited neo Nazis to join his campaign as well. What people should and need to know is that East Tennessee is not an area full of hate or bigots. Southland Books & Cafe has endured for 31 years and will endure for another 30 plus years. We have an inventory of 70,000 used books and around 1,000 new books. This doesn’t even begin to cover the inventory of media in The Dungeon. The Bird & the Book stays busy with weekly trivia events and music and theatrical events and exists as a place that is welcoming to everyone.
I suppose the main thing to know about our business is that we are a welcoming space… just don’t be a jerk.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Well, both the COVID story and being protested by Christofascist jerks demonstrates resilience quite well.

Have you ever had to pivot?

See the COVID story.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.southlandbooksandcafe.com
• Instagram: southlandbooks/The Bird & the Book/ The Dungeon @ Southland
• Facebook: Southland Books & Cafe/The Bird & the Book/The Dungeon @ Southland
• Twitter: @SouthlandBooks
• Other: We run three pages!

Image Credits
Lisa Misosky