A woman realizes her life’s dream when she opens the new Book Nook.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

LIVERMORE FALLS – Elaine Smith loves reading and loves books. So, when a storefront became available, she decided to go for it and open a bookstore.

“It’s my lifelong dream,” Smith said.

Walk into the Book Nook, located between Main Street Video Network and Food City, and it’s a step back in time.

Smith sits at an antique desk near the front of the store, which serves as the counter. A computer sits hidden on the side.

A large, floral wallpaper border runs around the middle of the room. Two stuffed chairs with lamps on tables in a corner of the room provide cozy places to read.

In another section, elegant chairs in another reading spot resemble a room in a Victorian home.

Smith walked through the store amid the shelves and displays of books noting the authors of the books who range from her sister-in-law Kathy Lynn Emerson to Matt Christopher and R.L. Stine.

Disney classics, cookbooks, military, history, sports, science fiction, self-help and more.

“I have a love of reading, a love of books and I just got to talking to people about opening a store and this storefront was available … and I said let’s go for it,” Smith said.

She’ll carry a stock of used books, hardcover and paperback, of all different kinds, which she plans to constantly change, she said.

Smith said she also plans to try and carry the Top 10 books from the New York Best Sellers list. She’ll also do searches for hard-to-find titles.

Her goal is to carry as many magazine titles as possible and newspapers from out of state after the first of the year.

“Mother Nature has held me up quite a bit,” Smith said.

Her friend Gailene Buckley is helping her with coordinating everything and decorations. Smith’s daughter Amie is doing the computer work. Amie Smith has helped her grandmother, Ethel Emerson of Farmington Falls, at her bookstore, Falls Book Barn, for the last four or five years.

There’s a changing table and children’s toys near the children’s section to accommodate Amie’s daughter, Catherine, and other children who visit the store.

Smith is no newcomer to the retail business. She was the manager of Welby Super Drug Store and Rite Aid before she took time off to volunteer at Livermore Falls High School for a few years.

For the last three years, Smith has also worked part-time at Treat Memorial Library in Livermore Falls.

Smith’s shop is in a former storage room, which she used when she managed the drugstore when it was in the complex. She laughed as she remembered that she had slept there one night when they had a sidewalk sale.

She plans to be open every day of the week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. She’ll soon have a Web site for readers to visit.

“I love books,” Smith said. “They’re so entertaining. They can take you places in your imagination … Books can take you anywhere. They give you so much information. They’re great friends.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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