Building a Bookstore - What Could Go Wrong?

In the last two years I have read every blog, visited every website, looked everywhere I could think of for information on and stories about opening a bookstore. I have especially enjoyed the first person accounts, usually blogs, and the stories relating some quirky problem or unique situation that the author experienced while preparing to open a bookstore.

When I think about it, that is probably what gave me the idea to start the Paragraphs blog.

There aren't many times that I would presume to think I could claim to have a better story than anyone else. But, after the last couple of days, my path to becoming a bookseller may have become the only one of its kind.

Building a bookstore - What could go wrong?




Not much, just a hurricane. And not just any hurricane but one with a mind of its own. What was projected to be a category 1 ended up hitting South Padre Island as a strong category 2 storm. It was believed that as Dolly wobbled a little to the north this morning, the eye would be making landfall somewhere north of SPI, on the uninhabited part of the Padre Island National Seashore. I'm not an expert on hurricanes, but I think this is what happened.

According to the WeatherNerd:

In any event, Dolly’s track means that the “right-front quadrant,” normally the most dangerous part of a hurricane, will hit the sparsely populated region north of the border towns. However, this may not be such a blessing, because Dolly has an unusual structure right now, and it appears the left-front quadrant — i.e., the southern eyewall — is the strongest part of this particular hurricane. And the southern eyewall, or at least its outer portion, is lashing the southernmost Texas coast right now, as the 12:08 PM EDT radar shows.

I have watched all this develop from Denver, and I must admit I am a little neurotic by now. It appears the worst is over, but I have no idea how my half-constructed building weathered the storm.

I would love to hear from those of you who stayed. Was it as bad as the media made it look? Let me hear your stories. Oh, and by the way, is Paragraphs still standing?

Picture via Bloggin' All Things Brownsville