COLUMBUS -- A new story has begun in Columbus with the opening of Chapters at The Cottage, 3215 14th St.
The local bookstore is the only one on Columbus’ shelf. There is no other independently owned store in town, which is why owner Carla Ketner was urged to open Chapters in the upstairs of The Cottage.
“Norma Bender -- she owns The Cottage -- she came to me with the idea,” Ketner said. “She had her business going and said it’s been years since Columbus had a bookstore. She wasn’t interested in the business end of it ... and was looking for a small, independent book store in the area, so I decided to open a branch.”
Chapters is a familiar read for some Columbus residents who have stopped in at Ketner’s Seward store Chapters Books & Gifts.
“I had more customers from Columbus stop in on their way to Lincoln,” she said.
That is how Bender came across Ketner’s store.
“I was driving through Seward and said, ‘there’s an independent book store.’ So I stopped in and asked if she was interested in coming to Columbus, and she said yes. It really didn’t take too long,” Bender said.
Owning one book store, let alone two, was not in the original plans for Ketner.
“It originally started because a friend of mine in Nebraska City was a book clinic and said, ‘you should start a book store in Seward.’ I said no way. I didn’t want to work that hard,” she said.
At the time she had a child starting school and was contemplating teaching. After putting the idea of the book store in the back of her mind, she started to research the idea.
“I started to really think it was a great idea,” Ketner said. “I’ve had great support from the Seward community.”
That same support has started in Columbus as more people are discovering the store here.
Ketner described Chapters as a general book store, carrying fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults, book-related and educational toys for children.
Special orders are taken and Ketner encourages customers to make suggestions for what the store can carry.
“It’s a work in progress,” she said. “We’re off to a good start. We’ll keep on building more and more, especially during the holidays.”
People voting for the 2009 One Book, One Columbus, may cast their ballot at Chapters until Oct. 15.
Chapters at the Cottage is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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