BERLIN – The town will welcome a new bookstore this fall.
In late September, Susan Ayres Wimbrow will open the Greyhound Indie Bookstore at 9 S. Main St. She’s eager to bring the town something it’s long been lacking.
“I’m going to have New York Times bestsellers, independent books and I want to feature the local and rich history we have here on the Eastern Shore,” she said.
Wimbrow, who owns the side of the historic building that currently houses Snapdragon, said she’d long wanted to open a bookstore. She makes a habit of visiting those she comes across as she travels.
“I always walk out of a bookstore and wonder why Berlin doesn’t have one,” she said.
When Wimbrow learned that her tenant would be moving out July 31, just as she herself was preparing for the release of the novel she’s spent the past year-and-a-half finishing, she decided the time for a Berlin bookstore had come.
“I thought, well, now or never,” she said.
Wimbrow, who owned a funeral home for 43 years before retiring, recently completed the novel “Death is my Life.” Though it’s a novel, the story is based on something that happened to her.
“My mother was strangled, raped and murdered in that order in Norfolk, Va.,” she said. “I’m writing this book to educate the public on what happens to the family nucleus when someone is murdered or killed.”
The novel also incorporates some of Wimbrow’s experiences in funeral services. After years of writing, she’s looking forward to sharing her book with the public in her new bookstore.
“It’s been a long journey,” she said.
Wimbrow will spend August renovating the Ayres building, which once housed the general store run by her great grandfather and his brother, and hopes to open the store shortly after her book is published through Salt Water Media in September. She says Greyhound Indie Bookstore — so named because she and her husband rescue greyhounds off the racetrack — will be a classic bookstore with an English feel. Its inventory will include books as well as journals, notecards and handcrafted pens. The shop will also feature local artists.
Wimbrow plans to encourage patrons to grab a coffee at nearby Baked Dessert Café and then browse through the books in her shop.
“It’s going to have a very comfortable feel,” she said. “It’s a place they can sit and have quiet time and enjoy themselves and read.”
