GLEN ARBOR -- Nestled on a side street just off M-22 is an 80-year-old log cabin that attracts book lovers from all corners of the globe.
"We have customers from all over, from the U.S., England, Japan," said Barbara Siepker, owner of The Cottage Book Shop. "Of course, most of our business is done in the summer with customers from the community and summer visitors."
The rustic book shop is jam-packed with reading treasures. A book lover easily can kill an hour or two browsing in this 1,000-square-foot cabin-turned-book-nook. Its narrow aisles are stuffed with great reads, with a heavy emphasis on books about Leelanau County, northern Michigan, Great Lakes history, children's books, nature, logging, shipping and Native American culture.
"I try to have what people will like to read -- beach reads, thrillers, romances," explained Siepker. "But I also make sure we have lots of local books. If it's local, I like to have it."
That emphasis on local books and a warm person-to-person relationship is vital to an independent book seller, said Siepker, whose biggest competition is from online sellers such as Amazon.
That cyber-competition has caused about one-third of independent book sellers to go out of business in the 12 years since Siepker bought the shop. She's worked hard to keep sales steady or climbing over the decade.
"We can't always match their prices, but we can provide great service," she said. "If a customer wants a certain book, we're always glad to ship it to them. We love working with our customers and their business is important to us."
A former Chicago-area psychotherapist who moved to Glen Arbor in 1990 with her husband, Frank, Siepker admits she didn't know much about the book business when she bought the shop from a friend in 1995.
"There's this fantasy about owning a book shop," she said. "People think they can sit and read all day. Little did I know..."
But Siepker quickly learned the ins and outs of the book business and now oversees a smooth operation that hosts summer book signings, monthly book discussion groups and story hours. The staff also sends a monthly newsletter and keeps its Web page updated.
"You have to be a people person," said Siepker. "There's a lot to learn about the business. You have to stay on top of it."
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