Pass Christian Books Reopens on the Coast

Pass Christian Books, which was leveled in Hurricane Katrina, has finally moved back to downtown Pass Christian, Mississippi. After the 2005 storm, co-owners Rich Daley and Scott Naugle operated online and out of their homes, then moved to a temporary storefront on the outskirts of town. On April 1, the bookstore reopened near its former location. "Greetings from the Mississippi Gulf Coast," said Daley via e-mail. "I am pleased to say that we have finally moved back into Pass Christian. It took three years and eight months."

Following the hurricane, there was no indication that a bookstore had ever existed on its former site. "It really messed with my mind," said Daley. "There was some debris that I kicked around looking for something that belonged to me. There was nothing."

But Daley and Naugle decided to start over. "I sold books out of my living room, out of my trunk, we did street fairs, we rented hotel rooms for author events," Daley said. "I told people to call me if they wanted a book, and I'd bring it to them." Living in a small town allowed for door-to-door service, and also meant that after the sale, the bookseller usually stayed to socialize.

In November 2006, the business partners opened a storefront location five miles inland. The 10-unit building, which was featured in Dwell magazine, was designed and built to house displaced businesses and was paid for by a local philanthropist. The rent was relatively inexpensive for the 700-square-foot space, which was meant to be an interim location. "It served its purpose well," said Daley.

Pass Christian Books' new location, one block from the beach in downtown Pass Christian, sees significantly more traffic than the inland spot. A grand reopening is planned for the late spring.

"We decided to make the jump," Daley said. "And the truth is that I'm pleased as hell to be here. We're coming back inch by inch." A few offsite big-name author events, such as a past benefit featuring Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, could go along way toward helping them fully recover, said Daley.

Prior to Katrina, Daley and Naugle, who is now working full-time in the insurance business, had just reached the point where the bookstore was successful enough to warrant their buying or building their own storefront. "We were going full throttle then, and found and bought a lot," Daley explained. "We had plans drafted for a building and were going to build a bookstore and have two retail spaces to rent out." Now, with the unraveled economy, their plans are further delayed, but Daley said eventually they hope to build their beachfront bookstore.

The past four years have been a monumental challenge, said Daley, but one bright spot has been the ongoing backing of their community. "Yesterday, someone dropped off a tin of cookies with a note that said, 'Welcome Home! We missed you.' I taped the note to the wall," he said.

"Once you lose everything you realize how insignificant it all is, if you can walk away with your life. Several people I know died in that storm. I wish the feds would have stepped up, helped small business owners. But we can say that we rebuilt it ourselves, with the help of our customers." --Karen Schechner