Buxton Village Books at OBX

A rainy day at the beach

A rainy day is perfect for browsing a bookstore on the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina. Pouring rain, thunder and lightning made it a day to curl up inside with a good read. I usually bring my own reading material on vacations, but it had been a few years since I’d browsed through Buxton Village Books, so my daughter and I decided to grab an umbrella and go.

Buxton Village Books

It’s still the cozy, charming store that I remembered. Buxton Village Books opened in 1984, one year before my family started what became an annual summer trek from the Midwest to Hatteras Island, and it’s still thriving. What is this independent bookstore’s secret to survival, when mega-bookstores are putting small merchants out of business?

For one thing, it’s the only bookstore on the island! Unlike northern Bodie and Roanoke Islands, Hatteras has no chain stores.

No Burger King, no McDonalds, no Walmart, no Kmart, and that means no Barnes & Nobles or Borders either– which is why my family loves it here.

Rich history

Buxton Village Books is a quaint, personalized bookstore that’s rich with history. The building was at one time a humble summer cottage. Gee Gee Rosell, the store owner, proudly told me she built the add-on rooms herself, from the ground up, and that includes the wiring, too. Many of the ceiling beams were salvaged from shipwrecks (as was done for many of the early cottages and houses in this area—it was less costly than having lumber shipped over). It’s now a full service bookstore with a multitude of corners, doorways, step-downs, creaky floors, hand-drawn signs pointing the way, hanging lights and throw rugs.

Gee Gee declined having her picture taken, saying she doesn’t want her identity to define the bookstore. “Most people think of a woman-owned business as being a hobby. For me, this is a serious literary endeavor.”

It shows. Buxton Village Books carries all kinds of fiction, including thrillers, mysteries and romance, used hardcover and paperback books, and children’s books, as well as beach and Southern themed fiction and nonfiction. They are open year round. If you ever stay on lovely Hatteras Island, don’t miss it.

I bought a hardcover issue of  “Outer Banks” by Anne Rivers Siddons. Seemed appropriate. I later noticed that the book is a first edition, and it’s dedicated to Gee Gee. I might return to Buxton Village Books to have her sign it, too.

Linda K. Sienkiewicz is the author of the award-winning novel In the Context of Love, about one woman’s need to tell the truth without shame.

Angelica must find the strength to make her life her own after a devastating family secret, heartbreak, betrayal and bad decisions turn her world upside down. 

Sarton Women’s Fiction Finalist
Eric Hoffer Book Award Finalist
Readers’ Favorite Finalist
USA Book News Best Book Finalist
New Apple Book Awards Official Selection

“…at once a love story, a cautionary tale, and an inspirational journey.” ~ Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award Finalist, American Salvage, and critically acclaimed Once Upon a River,and Mothers, Tell Your Daughters