For as long as I can remember, I have had a secret wish, an untold goal if you will, to own a bookstore with a marvelous little café included. Not trendy like Borders or Barnes and Noble, but homey, friendly, even inviting. Of course it would have the catchiest of names and I’d want it to be a haven for the reader and the author. I want to host monthly author readings and Q&A’s, I want to hold book launch parties, I want to host book groups and children’s hours. I want the best chef to be in charge of my café, one who can make marvelous little pastries, cakes, cookies and candies along with the tastiest of soups, salads and sandwiches. I want it to be the place to come when people think of books. And then I want people to be constantly thinking of books.
The only problem with a dream like this? You really have to have a huge amount of money and the patience to understand that the book business really doesn’t do a lot of profit. I’d have to have the most understanding investor who would do it for the sheer love of being a bibliophile (book lover) who simply wants to promote literacy and not make much of a profit. Although I would do my level best to be the one who does it differently and make my bookstore a going concern.
Then when my bookstore/café is doing extremely well, I would expand and include an art gallery and day spa. Oh yeah, the full experience to reward the exhausted, the weary and the run ragged. I’d want to make it affordable and the place to be above all others.
It’s a dream. And dreams are meant to come true. So one day you’ll get announcement that Candace E. Salima has opened a store and you’ll know – this dream did not die hard.