Welcome! I'm thrilled you're here checking out my little corner of the podcasting world. I'm usually at the keyboard writing or on the sales floor chatting up my customers, so this is very new for me.
My love of words started early. In a very chaotic childhood, the library was my haven. The fact that I own a bookstore now blows my mind. Owning two is just too much. I'm the luckiest girl!
My husband tells people that I'm a serial entrepreneur. That sounds creepy. I like to think of myself as a literary entrepreneur. I'm a storyteller and a story seller. Much better!
I currently have three retail stores. Sassafras on Sutton in Black Mountain, North Carolina is my OG. Sassafras began as a full independent bookstore and coffee bar. I opened in February 2018 and survived the roof collapsing the first weekend of December that year which forced me to miss my entire first holiday season and several month after that, and then I made it through Covid and all the lockdowns and masks and pandemic stuff. My first few years were eventful.
In January 2020, we closed for two weeks to put stairs in from our bookstore to the second floor so I could open a toy store in March. Yes, I laugh now too. My timing was impeccable! Don't fret. It all worked out. We bought the building and opened our toy floor in May when all the chaos died down a little. My first little customer came in with bags of change they had been saving throughout the lockdown so they could come to the new toy toy store when it opened. So cute! This location is 6,000 sq ft total, and every inch is packed full of goodness. I've had the same manager since the day I opened which is the biggest blessing to me!
After much research and many fun visits to check out the town, we purchased a big ole 18,000 sq ft building in Waynesville, North Carolina and opened our second Sassafras in October 2021. This one, Sassafras on Main, does not have a coffee bar but does have twice the space! It's also full. I hate to let a good inch of retail space go to waste! We have the bookstore and one of the largest toy stores on the East Coast. Maybe the world. It's possible.
Apparently I didn't have enough going on. We purchased another building on Main Street in Waynesville, just down from Sassafras. She's my middle child in terms of size (just 9,000 sq ft, poor tiny thing), but she is so much fun! We opened Minted Mercantile in April 2023. Minted is completely different than our Sassafras stores. We carry everything from jewelry to handbags to tabletop to pantry items to bath & body. I had a blast taking all that empty space and filling it with beautiful merchandise. We also own a private parking lot with nine very coveted spots. Parking is always at a premium in our mountain towns!
All three of my stores are in old, historic buildings. Our Sutton store is in the town's original livery stable. Black Mountain and Waynesville are Hallmark-worthy towns outside of Asheville, NC with charming Main Streets bustling with locals and tourists. If you've never been to the Western North Carolina mountains, come on! It's truly magical. And make sure to stop by and say hey. I'll be at one of the stores!
Onto writing! I've been authoring since 2015 and currently write a Christian Middle Grade series with my husband (that will be a whole show someday!) called Bell Tower Bible Adventures. Our characters go back in time and experience the bible stories firsthand.
I spend a lot of time at writing conference. I ADORE authors and am grateful to call so many friends. I'll be chatting with a lot of them about books and writing and lots of other juicy stuff. I'll also be talking with other bookstore owners, my staff, agents, publishers and anyone else I can pressure to be on the show. If you know me, watch out!
If there's anything you'd like me to talk about, shoot me an email to susanne@notesfromthebookstore.com. Want to be a guest on the show? Woo hoo! Fill out the Be A Guest form. The link is up there in the menu.
Thanks so much for being along on this ride with me.
Susanne