Volume Bookshop & Studio hosted its grand opening celebration earlier this week at 7 East Main St. in Buckhannon, W.Va. My Buckhannon reported that the store features new and used books, a podcast studio, children's books, puzzles, vinyl, art supplies, and more. Owners Nicki Bentley-Colthart and Spike Nesmith have also partnered with Back Porch Quilters to sell their quilts.
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| Nicki Bentley-Colthart and Spike Nesmith | |
They decided to open the store to make sure the community has a local source to purchase books. "We heard that Argo Books was closing, and we hated to see the community lose a bookstore," Bentley-Colthart said. "We are readers and lovers of the community, so we wanted to have a space where people can come hang out, pick up a book and try some Scottish/British foods. We have British tea, a few sweets and shortbread, building on Spike's culture, which is tied to a lot of our Appalachian culture. A lot of us have Scottish heritage, so we wanted to bring a little bit of that here."
Nesmith is a nonfiction reader and Bentley-Colthart a fiction reader, she said, so "between the two of us, I think we have a good, well-rounded vision of what's out there and what people like.... We always want to make it inviting and welcoming.... We just want to be a hub where people can come in and have that little adventure through a book."
Nesmith, who has more than 30 years of experience in radio, said he is willing to help produce and develop podcasts: "I'd say we probably lean more on the books than anything else, but we also have a podcast studio, where if someone wanted to come in and record something, they can use that studio." He is also working on an Internet stream that will play music and feature community announcements.