We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tara Cool a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tara, thanks for joining us today. 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?

I definitely am happier as a business owner. I think about this often. I love coming to work, and if Meghan, my sister and business partner, is at the store for an event and I am not, I feel like I am missing out. It has been such a creative outlet and a dream come true. Most recently I was thinking about this when I had a few regulars sitting at the coffee/wine bar and we were discussing books that we had read and enjoyed or hated recently. We were having such a great time, and I remember thinking, “Man, I get to do this for my job!” I love meeting new people and it is literally my job to talk to people and help them find new books to read. Before we opened the store, I was a paralegal and a teacher. I enjoyed both jobs, but it is so different coming to a place that is yours. The Bookhouse is a place that we created and have such a vested interest in. It represents Meg and I and you cannot really replicate that working a ‘normal job.’

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?

We ended up in the book industry honestly because we both love reading and we had this crazy dream that we were crazy enough to chase. Meg and I had discussed opening a bookstore for years, but neither of us thought it was a real possibility. We lived in different states, we had no idea how to do what we wanted to do, and it seemed insurmountable. In 2022, Meghan relocated to Winston-Salem, and I went through a lot of unexpected life changes that caused me to have to rethink my plans for the future. We had also befriended a lovely woman, Angela, who owned the AR Workshop, which was in the space that is now The Bookhouse. Angela mentioned that she was looking to do something different, and Meg pushed me to call and ask about the space and what it would take to lease it. We literally made a call out of curiosity and one thing led to the next and here we are! It has been a whirlwind and a crazy learning experience. Neither of us had done anything like this before, but we know books and have a heart for the community, so we just modeled The Bookhouse after our hearts. We had to ask A LOT of questions and defer to people who had much more experience than us, and so many people were incredibly helpful and instrumental to us getting this thing off the ground. After extensive research, we just started taking steps. We are still learning every day, but when I think about where we were this time last year, I am almost unable to recognize us.

Our space is designed to be a bookstore first and foremost, but it is so much more than that. It is a gathering spot for the community. We host author talks for local authors, writing groups, open mic nights, poetry slams, and live music. We are always open for coffee, tea, beer, or wine. We get to see friends meet up for a drink, parents bring their kids to play at the train table and buy books, people use our workstations to work remotely, and then we have regulars that come in to sit at the bar and chat. We also have some giftable items and games. Our store is small but mighty, and if we do not have a title that you are looking for, We are able to order most titles fairly quickly. Our goal is for people to feel at home when they walk through our doors and for them to know that our heart is to serve them. I think that is what I am most proud of. We often hear from our customers taht they feel welcomed and that they come to the store for a respite.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Honestly, our most effective strategy has been through word of mouth and getting involved in the community at any and every opportunity. We do keep up with our social media, and that is helpful, but the biggest thing we have seen is people bringing in their friends after they have had a really positive experience with us or coming in after they have seen us out at a community event. In our first year, we offered to host many events just to get as many people as possible through our doors. I cannot tell you the number of times that we held an event for someone and the people walking in the door either had no idea that we were there, or they had no idea what we had to offer. We have also seen surprising success with flyers for events. This seems so old school, but it has really worked for us. We hang flyers on community boards and occasionally pass out small flyers.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

We are simple with this. We have a newsletter that our customers can sign up for to learn about events/sales. We also have a loyalty program where our customers can earn points that translate into store credit. We do both of these through Square to simplify our process. Customers get a text reminder when their points are about to expire, and we try to keep the incentives enticing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thebookhousews.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebookhousews/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebookhousews

Image Credits

Hayley Wick Photography
Brooke White Photography