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south. But one day 16 years ago, Davis’s
sister announced she’d be moving to the
Atlanta suburbs. Davis, who was working
in midtown Manhattan at the time, thought
the pace of life would be too slow. But the
housing prices were aordable by New York
standards, and she liked the idea of raising
her son in a small, tight-knit community. She
followed her sister.
“My family was taking unocial bets on
which one of us was moving back first,” she
said with a laugh.
Eight months later, her sister fled back north.
Davis, meanwhile, never left.
A little more than a year after taking
ownership of the store, Davis is slowly
transforming its inventory.
For the 15 years of its existence before
Davis took over, the Book Worm was a used
bookstore. And, although Powder Springs
is diverse — its population was 55% Black,
33% white and 15% Hispanic in 2021,
according to Census Bureau estimates — its
status as a used bookstore has meant its
stock was not representative of the city’s
population, Davis said.
Books about minority or immigrant
communities and cultures can be hard
to come by, Davis said. As such, they’re
cherished by those groups and are not often
sold to used bookstores.
“Say, just, my culture, African-American
women — anything history related, we don’t
usually give up, because it is so hard to find
those history books,” she said. “So if you’re
just focusing on used books, or people
bringing in used books, or trying to find
used books, you’re only going to find a small
amount of diversity, a small amount of books
in dierent languages, a small amount of
books in dierent cultures.”
Her ultimate goal is that “everybody can
be able to walk here and find something that
looks like them, something that they can
learn from because it does look like them.”
Progress is slow, but steady, Davis said. When
she took over, 98% of the inventory was used
books. That figure has since dropped to 80%
used books and 20% new, with Davis buying
new books daily.
“It’s a blessing and a curse when you’re a
book lover, because I’m like, ‘Oh, a couple for
the store, one for me,’” she said.
The turnover in inventory is already
reaping the benefits Davis had hoped for.
One day in January, someone came into
the store looking for a book for her Korean
mother, any English-language book about
Korean history.
“And we had it,” Davis said.
The Book Worm is celebrating Black
History Month, but it isn’t only focusing on the
usuals, such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther
King Jr.
“I want to be able to say, you know, there’s
more to the culture than those two figures,”
she said. “It is more than the civil rights
movement.”
Davis has hung heart-shaped cards
because February is also the month of
Valentine’s Day — in shades of brown around
the store, each bearing a fact about a lesserknown
figure in Black history on one side,
and the name of that person on the other.
As customers correctly guess the names
throughout the month, the hearts will be
flipped to reveal the names.
Additionally, each month the store features
a reading prompt. This month’s prompt: read
a book by someone who doesn’t look like you
and who doesn’t have the same background
as you.
“The knowledge is in the book, what
we need to learn from each other is in the
book,” Davis said. “If we can learn from our
dierences and what makes us special, we
might get along a little better.
It’s a hope colored, in part, by Davis’s own
brief experience as a small business owner.
“I’ve gained customers because of the
way I look,” she said. But “I’ve lost a lot of
customers because of the way I look.”
Due to the pandemic, and the rather abrupt
nature with which the opportunity to own
the store presented itself, Davis’ transition
from patron to owner was drawn out. About
10 months passed before she ocially took
the helm Nov. 7, 2020. During that period,
she was able to shadow Smelser, the former
owner. And she became familiar with the
customer base.
“There were customers in here who were
over their 60s, Caucasian, that were in here
once a week. I have not seen those people
… once I took over,” she said. “It’s sad that
we’re still in that state, that people will not
shop based on the way someone looks, not
even customer service, not even giving me
the opportunity to say, ‘I’m not shopping
here’ or ‘I am shopping here.’”
Disappointing as that was, another
group has been a source of unwavering
kindness, she said: Powder Springs’ business
community.
Several new businesses have opened
a stone’s throw from the Book Worm and
consider each other collaborators, rather than
competitors, Davis said.
Special Blends bartending will create
signature cocktails for book club meetups,
cocktails that match the cover of the book
being discussed. Last year, when the book
club met to discuss “Before the Coee Gets
Cold,” by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Special
Blends prepared Irish coees.
Rooted Trading Co., a general goods
store that had opened next door just before
Davis became the owner, oers its patio
for meetups. The two businesses plan on
collaborating later this month on a “Black
Entrepreneur Day” as they had last year for
Black History Month.
Rooted Trading Co. owner Jake Hardy
called the Book Worm “an anchor for the city.”
“With (Davis), it’s been really neat
actually, because, you know, she took over
a bookstore that’s been there for almost 20
years,” he said. “And a lot of people know
about it, but because she’s brand spanking
new to the whole thing. I was, I am too. ... So
we’ve worked well together, being this kind
of fresh blood coming in at the exact same
time, pretty much, to kind of figure it all out
with each other.”
It may have been a lifelong dream, but
the work isn’t easy. It doesn’t help that it’s
competing with a trillion-dollar company.
Amazon can oer the lowest prices and the
widest selection, she acknowledged.
“But you’re not going to get the same
experience,” Davis said. “We’re making a
dierence.”
The Book Worm during her tenure has
partnered with local schools. College
students sometimes come in the store to just
sit and read, as if it were a library. A donation
account exists for people who donate books
but aren’t interested in receiving store credit
Above: Julia Davis took ownership of the
Book Worm bookstore in November 2020.
Left: The inventory at the Book Worm is
slowly changing; 80% of its stock as of late
January was in used books, a number its
new owner, Julia Davis, hopes to reduce
over time.
MARCH 2022|COBB LIFE 125