Clark fulfills dream of bookstore

Kema Clark is just one of many admirable, emerging women who has faithfully stepped out to fulfill a hobby and live a dream of owning her own used bookstore. Kema enjoys her job everyday as anyone could see from the excitement glowing in her eyes. Kema’s loft style hometown bookstore is very stylish and welcoming with a modern coffee shop twist, in which she offers complementary coffee to her guests. Kema has
retired from Ford Motor Credit Company after 25 years and simply wants time to simplify her life, slow down and enjoy the things she loves, which are books, her family, and her hometown of Gray, Ga.
Kema believes Valerie Andrews, assistant professor of GCSU’s Mass Communication program, is her angel in disguise as Valerie offered her a deal she could not resist. Valerie’s proposal was for the Spring 2007 Principles of Public Relations class to take on “Kema’s Hobby Books & More” and make a proposal for her. PJ Schinella, a peer in the class, has taken a lot from his experience with Kema. He said, “I learned that you can’t judge a book by its cover. I thought that it was going to be some junkie trashy romance novel store, but was completely
shocked when I went there. The store represents Kema – warm and welcoming.”
Friday, March 16, “A Man & Three Pink Ladies,” a class agency, helped Kema host an event in honor of her one-year anniversary and St. Patrick’s Day. The event was titled, “Cookies, Coffee, & Chords,” in which over 60 college students attended and several community members.
Josh Malloy, a guest guitarist and singer, and drummer, Jason Berl, entertained while people enjoyed a wide variety of desserts, punches, hot chocolate, and coffee, as well as browsed her diverse collection of new and used books. Kema is a very faithful storeowner who will order any book for her customers, offers a store credit program for exchanged
books, and is a caring and delightful lady to talk with. As a class, we have also donated an OPEN neon sign in the shape of a coffee cup to Kema. Dorita Medard said, “We presented the gift to her at our event and Kema was flabbergasted as she put up the sign immediately in her window.” Other groups are planning special story times, follow-up events, and better ways for Kema to advertise. Our class has embraced Kema’s great spirit and passion. Kema is excitedly awaiting our class’ final proposals in which Kema says, “I plan to implement every one of their ideas.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 13 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry