About Bookstores

This past spring, Julie Drake and Steve Lloyd, co-owners of Title Wave Books in Anchorage, Alaska, were named Alaska's Small Business Persons of the Year for 2003 by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Four other Alaska businesses were vying for the award, according to the SBA.

By Laura Hansen

Laura Hansen is owner/manager of Bookin' It in Little Falls, Minnesota, a store that she describes as "among the smallest of the small bookstores, operating in a community of only 7,500" and devoting 1,800 square feet to retail floor space. Here she explains how even a small store in small town should "never underestimate your market. Expect the unexpected customer even when no one expects the unexpected of you."