[piano intro] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," join us from Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, as we go on a book crawl across the state.

We'll visit bookstores in Winston-Salem, Mount Airy, Davidson, and Asheville, and author D.G.

Martin takes us to one of his favorite roadside eateries, coming up next.

- [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[light folksy music] [light folksy music] [light folksy music] [light folksy music fades] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and this week we are going on a big book crawl across our state.

Now, we know a lot of our viewers love to explore North Carolina, and when you're traveling, you look for really good bookstores that are local, because we wanna support our communities.

I'm at one of my favorites, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, one of the largest independent booksellers in the state, and winner of the Publishers Weekly Bookseller of the Year honors.

We're gonna meet the manager of Quail Ridge Books in just a few minutes, but first, let's start our book crawl in Davidson, where Main Street Books has been a fixture since 1987, with a mission to inspire a love of books and reading.

[light homespun music] - Bookstores are so much more than a place to buy books.

Our mission is to bring people together in conversation around books.

That happens informally as customers come in and talk to each other, ask us for what we're reading and what we'd recommend for them.

But we also create space for an author with their new book, to meet the readers who are interested in hearing its origin story and their writing practices.

And we really are truly building community around stories.

[soft guitar music] Main Street Books is in the oldest building in Downtown Davidson, and opened in 1987.

Three women just knew this town needed a bookstore, had a lot of energy, and brought a lot of life to Main Street with this project.

And then in 2015, it was time to pass the torch.

My mom and I stepped in and knew this was gonna be a grand adventure, and bought Main Street Books.

So now we're going on almost 10 years.

Main Street Books focuses on new books.

We really do bring in brand new books every Tuesday.

New Release Tuesday is a big thing in the new book world.

We bring in a lot of fiction.

We love novels and our customers love novels.

We also have a lot of memoir.

We have a lot of kids' books.

Half the store is set up for kids, and then we dabble in science books, sports, and then we've got lots of super fun bookish gifts, everything from socks to totes and all that fun stuff.

[soft guitar music] Davidson is a really quaint, magical town.

It's a combination of having really interesting people from all over the country who come to teach and work.

So we've got this kind of cosmopolitan feel to the people, but the town's been extremely intentional about planning, and so as everything has boomed around us, they've worked hard to maintain a very pedestrian-friendly place where our kids can run up here from the elementary school two blocks down the road.

[soft guitar music] [people conversing faintly] [light upbeat music] One of the things that folks often ask us about is whether it's a problem for a bookstore to be located across from the public library.

It would seem that we would be in competition or that they would be able to sort of scoop us 'cause their books are free.

The reality is that a bookstore wants to be as close to the library as possible because we are both a part of this ecosystem of readers.

We are also right next door to Summit Coffee, their original location.

Maybe the second most common question we get is, "Can y'all just bust a hole in the wall between your two shops so we can just not have to walk out on the sidewalk, take 10 steps and walk back in?"

We've got a pretty fun crowd here in downtown Davidson.

[light upbeat music] We host events that typically feature an author and their book.

We host story times in partnership with the Davidson Farmer's Market.

We also host novelists, we host memoirists, we host poetry readings, all kinds of stuff that brings readers together with writers in a moment that's pretty unique.

Bookstores are very alive and well.

It's really fun to be a part of this moment where real books, in the face of Amazon, in the face of cell phones, just like the library, readers are gonna read.

They're still coming for real books, and they are very interested in what we have on our shelves and they're very interested in what we have to say about them.

- [Deborah] Main Street Books is at 126 South Main Street in Davidson, and they're open daily.

For more information, give the shop a call at 704-892-6841, or visit them online at mainstreetbooksdavidson.com.

Like a chapter in a novel, a woman in Canada found out about a bookstore and coffee shop for sale way down in the foothills of North Carolina.

She bought the bookstore, packed her bags, and started a brand new life in Mount Airy.

The woman's name, Cynthia Taylor, and the bookstore has a really cute name, Pages Books and Coffee.

[hands clapping] [light rhythmic music] - This is such a neat little store.

We love bookstores and I mean, it doesn't get any better, Bookstores and coffee together.

- Friendly, great coffee, and fabulous atmosphere.

- Small cappuccino, what kinda milk?

- [Deborah] That's exactly what Cynthia Taylor was hoping to find when she was daydreaming at her automotive job in Windsor, Ontario.

- I thought if I could do anything, I would own a bookstore coffee shop in a small town.

So I sat down and opened up Google and typed in "bookstores for sale in North America," and the first one that came up was "idyllic small town, northwestern North Carolina."

- [Deborah] The ad was for Pages Books and Coffee on Main Street in Mount Airy.

Cynthia knew immediately it was meant for her.

- Six months after first Googling "bookstores for sale," I was here.

- [Deborah] Number one on her bucket list was great coffee.

- [Cynthia] It comes from Greensboro, a company called Fortuna, and Blue Foot is our brand.

- I love this place.

It's great coffee.

I always get the organic coffee.

- They have all kinds of coffee drinks.

- I have a cappuccino because I like my milk and sugar.

[laughs] - Well I get an Americano, the same very boring four-shot Americano every day.

- Whatever the lady in front of me ordered.

It is a honey crisp apple latte.

[coffee grinder hums] - They make great lavender lattes, which is my favorite.

- And she's also one of the few places that are open on Sundays.

- [Deborah] Cynthia also wanted to create a place where everyone could feel comfortable.

- The coffee shop has become a really, really nice place to gather.

I mean, you can gather here and meet friends, just to catch up.

If you are working with other people, it's a nice place to have a meeting.

- And some Sundays we have an art class there.

Either a pottery glazing or a painting class will be there.

- And of course you can't go wrong when there's books.

I mean, you know, you get lost in those bookshelves for hours.

- [Cynthia] We are a general interest bookstore.

We don't specialize in anything in particular.

We have a lot of the new releases, the hardcovers.

- I find her selection interesting.

She's starting to focus a lot on books that contain local legends and lore and history, which is nice because it's not easy when you're a transplant to North Carolina, to find out that kind of information.

- [Cynthia] We have a large juvenile section and a children's area, and the children's area at the back has a train table for kids to play on, and a couch for the parents to sit on while the kids play.

There's a mural that we've, are working on on the wall, that we have a local artist doing.

- [Deborah] Which explains why part of Pages is dedicated to local artisans.

- I had a friend came to me and said he wanted a coffee shop, art gallery, and I told him I already had the coffee shop, and empty walls.

What did he want to do?

So, we worked together to create a space for artists to display some of their work.

- [Deborah] Pages may have been the dream of Cynthia Taylor, but along the way the coffee shop and bookstore also helped her gain the admiration of the entire town, and not only brought enjoyment to coffee drinkers and book readers, but to herself as well.

- You guys enjoy.

- She fell right in and has made a lot of friends.

She's been a great asset to the town.

- And I love how she just took charge of her life and decided to like up and move here and just do what she's always dreamed of.

- It gives me happiness.

Yep, absolutely.

You hand somebody a cup of coffee or give them the book they've been waiting for, and there's so much joy in that.

[light upbeat music fades] - Pages Books and Coffee is at 192 North Main Street, Suite 200 in Mount Airy, and they're open for coffee and books daily.

For more information, give them a call at 336-789-3363, or go online to pagesbooksandcoffee.com.

I'm here with Ginger Kautz, the manager of Quail Ridge Books.

Ginger, the store has been here for 40 years, and very successful.

What would you say is the secret to its success?

- Honestly, it's the people who are the secret.

We were founded by Nancy Olson back in 1984.

She was a real powerhouse in Southern literature.

She connected readers and authors.

She did a lot of material support for Southern literature as well, and she really gave publishers the idea that the local independent bookstores were a valuable outlet for them.

And then it was sold to Lisa.

When Lisa found out that Nancy was looking to retire, she bought the store to make sure that that legacy was continued.

And all along the way, we've just had phenomenal booksellers who are puttin' the books in people's hands.

[soft guitar music] - [Deborah] Well, book selling is very competitive with online book sales.

So how do you remain competitive, and more importantly, why is it so important to buy local?

- Yes, when you buy locally, you are supporting your local community in a number of ways.

So there's a societal impact.

Like, we live and work here, our taxes for both the store and our employees stay in the community, and we spend our money, from our wages here, in the community.

And then on a more selfish level for the readers, when you are shopping locally, you're connecting with another person.

So there's always that chance of meeting another customer who's read a book that you loved or a bookseller who's like, "Oh, you liked that?

I loved that, try this one next."

And you're bringing those authors in.

We get a lot of author tours, which are because they know that people will turn out in person, and you can't as easily visit an author through the websites.

- Well, Ginger, I really enjoyed my time here at Quail Ridge Books.

Thank you so much for having us.

- We were happy to have you, and please feel free to stop by any time for a new book.

- Quail Ridge Books is in the North Hills Shopping Center, at 4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road in Raleigh, and they're open every day from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. For more information, give them a call at 919-828-1588, or go online to quailridgebooks.com.

Another popular bookstore with a mission is in Winston-Salem, where Bookmarks hosts a book festival and literacy outreach programs to help bring more books to underserved populations.

Julia Carpenter learned about it when she visited Bookmarks.

[soft whimsical music] - Winston-Salem is the City of Arts, and Bookmarks Bookstore is the center of the literary community.

Uniquely, Bookmarks is a nonprofit, and hosts the largest annual book festival in the Carolinas.

- The book festival is held at the end of September every year.

We bring 50 to 60 authors from all over the country and all over the world.

We have typically about 20,000 people who come to the festival.

Usually about 25 to 30 states are represented.

Kids, adults, all ages, there's something for everybody at the festival.

- [Julia] Bookmarks collaborates with other nonprofits on literacy programs, with authors visiting around 70 schools, and speaking to over 10,000 students.

They donate approximately 20,000 books to local libraries, schools, and children each year.

- Books in the home are such great determinants of success later in life, in education, in the desire to read, and literacy.

We have about 300 volunteers throughout the year who help us with a variety of things, and for the festival specifically, usually around 150 to 200 volunteers.

The festival, the bookstore, all of our programs and outreach we do in the community is under that nonprofit umbrella.

It is unique in the state of North Carolina and one of the only in the country that operates in that way.

- [Julia] 180,000 books pass through this store each year, and reach an ever-growing diverse community.

- There are over 90 book clubs registered through Bookmarks, and these provide an opportunity for you to engage in community.

So whether you've lived here your whole life or you're brand new to the area, you can get plugged into a book club.

It's a really wonderful opportunity to have that sense of togetherness.

I'm a part of the Latina Book Club that was started here by a staff member.

We are all looking for each other, and to find a book club where you see yourself in your peers, and in the books you're reading, is phenomenal.

Part of the mission of Bookmarks, to bring authors to students, to have them engaged, to ask them questions, to get them thinking about the process of being an author, to delivering a book into a child's hands, it is nothing short of magical, and it really can change the outcome of a child and how they see themselves, whether they're a reader, whether they're an aspiring writer.

I think that's a really, really, really critical part of Bookmarks' mission.

- [Julia] Charlie Lovett is a "New York Times" bestselling author and an award-winning playwright, whose children's plays have been seen in over 5,000 productions worldwide.

- It's wonderful to have a local bookstore that will launch your new novel, allow you to connect with your readers.

I get a chance to meet lots of other authors, both at the festival and at other author events, which again adds to this sense of being a part of a community, even though I've chosen this profession that sort of makes me solitary a lot of the time.

- [Julia] Bookmarks is events-driven, and facilitate over 150 outreach programs, and numerous book signing events each year.

- As an author interviewing other authors, I always want to talk about more than just, "What is your book about?"

I like to talk about craft, I like to talk about the ways in which different authors approach the task of writing a book, and I think audiences, whether it's podcast audiences or people watching a live interview, find that fascinating.

I think authors are able to interview other authors in a way that maybe nobody else can.

Winston-Salem has always valued the arts, but for many, many years that meant the performing arts and the visual arts.

And Bookmarks came along and said, "The literary arts are just as important, and we're gonna be that third pillar," and they've successfully done that.

[soft whimsical music] - [Deborah] Bookmarks is at 634 West 4th Street, 110, in Winston-Salem, and they're open daily.

For more information, you can call them at 336-747-1471, or go online to bookmarksnc.org.

Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on Downtown Asheville.

But one pillar of the community remained resilient, perhaps because its founder was a Hungarian immigrant whose family had survived World Wars.

Today, Malaprop's is still the beating heart of Asheville.

[light rhythmic drum music] - We get excited by putting good books into people's hands.

Malaprop's was opened in 1982 by Emoke, and back in those days, Downtown was kind of desolate, so it was one of the first businesses that kind of led to the revitalization of Downtown Asheville.

[funky upbeat music] We like to serve the community through just offering a great selection of books, a very personal selection to the staff, and we like to give people the opportunities to find books that they might not find at other places.

At the same time, we like to have a great events program, national and regional authors, local authors as well, and we like to get out in the community as well and sell books.

[funky upbeat music] - There are so many times a day where somebody at the register is telling me how excited they are to see an independent bookstore operating still, and an independent bookstore that's so busy and so filled with people.

And I think people are really excited to see that people are still reading, people are still buying books, people are still bringing their kids and their families and their friends into a space like this.

That kind of a community space is really inspiring to people, and puts it on the map.

- Before I ever moved here, I would visit 10, 12 years ago, and come here to this spot.

It was always a hub of community activity, and authors, and that got me excited and inspired, and I said, "One day I'll come to that place and work."

And so I think that's something important, that the community has that place where they can go for literary inspiration and togetherness.

- We were one of the first stores to have a cafe and a bookstore.

You can come have coffee and chat with your friends and browse.

It's always brought a good energy to the store, when the cafe's packed.

[uptempo contemporary music] - We offer a lot of locally sourced product from chais to matchas.

Our coffee is a North Carolina coffee company, so we try to focus on that and bring people together, under those auspices, community.

[funky upbeat music] - Kinda the beauty of a physical, brick and mortar bookstore is discovery.

So coming in and taking your time and looking through what we've got, finding something specific to you that you might not even know is out there.

That's pretty special.

- I like the books that you can find here that sometimes you can't find at other places.

The staff is so knowledgeable that if you can't find something, they'll find it for you.

And so it's just a nice comforting place.

- Some people come into the store really wanting to learn.

They want knowledge, they want history, or political science or sociology.

And some people want escapism, and want something to just take their mind off of the sometimes harsh realities of the world.

Or some people want beautiful language and really artistic writing, and it feels and looks pretty big initially, but it quickly gets intimate as you're just wandering and can kind of stumble into something you weren't expecting.

[funky uptempo music] - As a local, you know, I come in and they know me, and they greet me by name and I chat with people, and I see them out in the community.

And that's really a big part of Asheville.

You will just find people to talk to, and to make you feel like you're glad you came to Asheville.

You're glad you came to Malaprop's.

[funky uptempo music] - Malaprop's Bookstore is at 55 Haywood Street in Downtown Asheville, and they're open daily.

To find out more, you can call them at 828-254-6734, or go online to malaprops.com.

Now for our final story, we're not going to visit a bookstore.

We're going to feature a book.

Our friend D.G.

Martin has crisscrossed the state, and along his journeys, he loves to stop at places where the locals enjoy eating.

This is his latest book, "North Carolina's Roadside Eateries," and in this book are over 100 restaurants featured.

We caught up with D.G.

in Chapel Hill, having breakfast at one of his favorite spots, Sutton's Drug Store.

- Well, we're here in Chapel Hill on the legendary Franklin Street.

Things are quiet out here, but inside Sutton's, things are booming.

[charming upbeat music] [charming upbeat music] - Well, what's great is that there's still places like this left in Chapel Hill and across North Carolina.

You know, in an era where we're so used to the quick place off the interstate, it's nice to be at a place where things haven't changed all that much over the years.

They're still serving great food at reasonable prices, and the community loves to gather.

- Well, Don Pinney, I've got you on page- - 53.

- 53 of the book.

[laughs] - I'm familiar with that page.

We appreciate you doin' a- - Well tell us the, tell us the story of Sutton's Drug Store.

You've been here a long time, and you're the owner now.

- Yes, I've been here too long, 47 years now, but I grew up here, you know.

But Mr. James and Lucy Sutton started Sutton's Drug Store back in 1923.

John Woodard bought it in '77.

- Now he was the pharmacist.

- He was the pharmacist.

He retired and gave me everything in 2014.

So that's kinda the history of Sutton's.

My history here is, of course, my mother and father worked here in 1959 and got married and then I came along in '64.

My dad worked at the soda fountain, and my mother worked in cosmetics, you know.

- [D.G.]

But Sutton's remains connected to what's going on in the rest of Chapel Hill.

- Well, we try to.

- Well, how do you, what do you do to make that happen?

- [Don] I think it's still the big melting pot of Chapel Hill.

The community still tries to come in, and we blend the old with the new, and that's just what we've been doing for years and years.

It seems to work.

- You, I mean, no argument that you've got the most wonderful set of employees, who take care of us when we come in.

How do you manage that?

How do you keep them, how do you recruit them?

- Well, the best way with employees is understanding that they're in back to order, you know, and I don't have anybody fill out an application.

Everybody's hired based upon personality.

Can they blend with others?

And they're my first line of offense with my customers.

Generally, if they get here, it's, "The customers are fun, the job is fun," and you know, and that's what you have to make.

- [D.G.]

How do you make the job fun for your employees?

- I mean, it just, we, I don't know.

We just have a good time.

- That's my family.

I work here now for 26 years.

Remember the first time when you come in here, you had a chili cheese fries, and a little jalapeno, hmm?

Yeah.

- Well, I've forgotten.

That's right.

- Yeah, I remember that.

I never forget the first time that I knew you.

[lively upbeat music] - Sutton's Drug Store is at 159 East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, and they're open for breakfast and lunch daily.

To find out more, give them a call at 919-942-5161, or go online to suttonsdrugstore.com.

And you can find D.G.

Martin's book, "North Carolina's Roadside Eateries," at Sutton's Drug Store and most bookstores around the state.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We have had such a great time, just exploring Quail Ridge Books here in Raleigh.

It's a wonderful bookstore if ever you have the opportunity and you're in the area.

And if you've missed anything in tonight's show, remember you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org, or find us on our YouTube channel.

Have a great "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

[light contemporary music] [light contemporary music] - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.