Celebrating 20 Years of Service to the Whole Community ... Even the Dogs

Tricia and Alan Lightweis founded The Booksmith in Seneca, South Carolina, in October 1989 with the intention of serving both the book needs of their family and the greater Seneca community. "We had moved to South Carolina from New Jersey, and we had four young children," explained Tricia Lightweis. "We had been huge library and independent bookstore goers. But when we got here, I thought the libraries were under funded and there were no other bookstores within 30 miles."

October 8 is The Booksmith's official anniversary, but the Lightweises will be holding birthday events throughout the first two weeks of November with discounts and parties. "Since we'll be coming into the holiday season, we will be using recipes from some wonderful new cookbooks -- The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook [Matt Lee, Ted Lee, Norton] and Soby's New South Cuisine [Rodney Freidank, et al.; Table301] -- to make cakes and pastries to celebrate with our customers," said Lightweis. "We'll also have giveaways of signed first editions that we'll announce on Facebook and Twitter."

The Lightweises also have another reason to celebrate: their youngest daughter was recently honored with the SUNY Press Dissertation/First Book Prize in African-American Studies, her Ph.D. in American Literature, and a forthcoming book contract. "We are proud of her achievements and of all of our children who worked so diligently as youngsters in the bookstore these past 20 years," said Lightweis. "Their support has been unwavering as has been our community, customer base, past staff members, and our current staff members."

Author Ron Rash serenaded by a book club member at The Booksmith.

During its two decades, The Booksmith has doubled in size, growing from 3,300 square feet to 6,600. The general bookstore caters to the Seneca community with a large regional section, an active events calendar emphasizing local authors, an espresso bar, and an in-store post office, which Lightweis highly recommended to other booksellers. "If you're in an area where it's feasible, [the post office] brings people to the store over and over again. The other side of the coin is that it makes it easier for our regular customer base to do their everyday tasks, so they can shop longer with us."

The Booksmith also serves as a canine rescue group, and dogs often spend some time at the store before they find a home. "We've found dogs at the back door, in storms," said Lightweis. After fliers are posted to make sure stray dogs are not just lost, they go home with a Booksmith customer, who will often bring the dog back to visit.

The bookstore recently started posting events and other information on Facebook and Twitter. "Right now we're in our infancy with social media," said Lightweis. "We just started three months ago, but we're finding it very helpful and getting good results. I've been really pleased with our interactions with customers on Facebook."

The Booksmith allows customers to take books from their collection of ARCs if they promise to post a review on Facebook, which also gets posted as a shelf-talker in the store. "It's like one customer handselling to another," Ligthweis said. "It's almost viral." --Karen Schechner