Kate Branch

Kate Branch is joined by her mother, Pat, and brother, Dan, in this independent bookstore venture.
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"I was looking to make a change in my life, and I wanted to have a family project," Branch, 37, said Friday.

A graduate of Duke University Law School, Branch worked for seven years as an employment lawyer for Shearman and Sterling in New York City.Although she liked her work, she said, she grew tired of the long hours.She also decided she wanted to be with her family, who live in Durham, she said.

"I'm just thrilled to have my family here.We have always been a book family and a bookstore family," Kate Branch said.

In fact, her sister, Carrie, and brother, Dan, have worked at the New England Mobile Book Fair, a bookstore outside Boston; they grew up in nearby Newton, Mass.

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Kate Branch remembers the summers her aunt spent with them and how she read books to her and her siblings.

Her mother and aunt came by their love of reading naturally -- from their parents.

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The store has a 10-year lease option, Kate Branch said.

"I'm here.I'm not going anywhere.This is what I'm doing.This is going to work out," Kate Branch said.

The Branches plan to compete with the chain bookstores by filling a niche left empty since The Intimate bookstore closed, they said.

"This store is here to be Chapel Hill's independent bookstore," Kate Branch said.

The Branches intend to be community-oriented, to know their customers and serve their needs, Kate Branch said.

"I want to know my customers' names," Kate Branch said."It's about books, but it's also about people, it's about business, about keeping up with what's going on, what's coming out."

The store will host a variety of events in addition to author readings and signings; Kate Branch said she would even like to hold a singles event in which people would be matched according to reading interests, such as favorite authors.

For the selection of their initial inventory of 15,000 books, the Branch family drew on their own interests as well as their employees'.

Kate Branch likes fiction that blends with mystery, historical novels, women's biographies and gender studies books, she said.While at Duke, she founded the Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy, which is still being published.

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"We have a Spanish language section which none of the bookstores around here have," Kate Branch added.The section has about 300 titles that include novels, poetry, nonfiction and children's books.

The 3,200-square-foot store also has other features.

The sound of steam being released from an espresso machine clues folks into the coffee bar, tucked behind one of the lime-green partitions in the store.

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"I don't like the idea of somebody else making 50 cents an hour so I can have expensive coffee," Kate Branch said.

The children's book area, toward the back of the store, features an alcove with a rocking chair.

A larger alcove, with sofa and chairs, will give people a place to read and can be used for book clubs, Kate Branch said.

And, once the store's up and running smoothly, she plans to resume one of her own favorite pastimes.

"In the last four weeks, I have not had time to read," Kate Branch said.

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