Andrea Dempster, owner of Bookophilia - Contributed

A year ago, Bookophilia opened at 92 Hope Road, St Andrew, a reading by author Colin Channer the centrepiece of the book store's kick-off activities. Then, Bookophila's owner Andrea Dempster told The Gleaner "I really enjoy it. If I spend extra hours on it, it does not feel like work. It sounds cliché, but it's true. There is this thing that Jamaicans don't read, which is a total fabrication. The response has been really, really positive."

As she looks forward to Bookophilia's first-anniversary celebrations on Friday, where there will be an across-the-board five per cent discount in addition to the regular World Beat jam, Dempster's work cliché still holds true. And the initial response has not diminished.

"It surpassed our expectations," Dempster said. "When we looked at how we did in January we were surprised."

She confirmed that, "Jamaicans read and read a lot and have varied taste. We sold a lot of non-fiction." And Dempster points out that a boy's book, Roderick Rules, geared towards pre-teens, is Bookophilia's top seller. "It was a shocker," she confessed.

Top sellers

Also selling well are the Obama pair of Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance and The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, more copies of the former moving from Bookophilia's shelves. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferris has also sold well.

However, when authors come in to read at Bookophilia, the literature really comes to life. "Some of my favourite moments are when you have an Anthony Winkler, a Rachel Manley, a Kei Miller and people are so moved," Dempster said. There are also other regular special features, including a Kids Club on Saturdays and Vintage Sundays (which facilitates book exchanges).

"We are making reading not something you do in your room; it is a social activity," Dempster said.

A key part of that social activity is the Bookophilia staff and Dempster said "we are very blessed to have people who care about customers and care about books, so the team is a key ingredient". In addition, she describes the customers as "like family. They will help us close up, they will put away chairs. They take it so personal. They feel we have created a space for them."

That space centres around, but is not dedicated exclusively to, books, with the walls used to display artwork. "It works quite well," Dempster said about the fusion. "We sell music, we sell artwork, we sell food. Part of the mission is to create a modern, warm space. It is the combination within the space that people love."

So she estimates that 90 per cent of Bookophilia's business comes through referrals. And they are key to the objectives in the second year. "We spent year one doing a lot of learning about the industry, how the business operates in Jamaica," Dempster said. In year two, the objective is to "have a wide range of books", focusing on what people are actually reading as opposed to what they are thought to be reading. In addition, there is a desire to bring down costs, as a part of making books more accessible.

"We will keep on building the community of 'bookophiles', people who love books," she said.

As for that work cliché from a year ago? Dempster said "every day I love my job. I'm still very enthusiastic about going to work every day".