Intriguing readers’ minds for 20 years

Heather Lane Borggard was a teenager when she began helping out at her mom’s used bookstore in Silverdale.

Now the owner of the store — Pages Books — it has become her passion. At 13 years old, it wasn’t something she imagined herself doing in the future, but now she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Now that I’m doing it I can’t imagine doing anything else,” said Heather, who wished to be referred to by her first name because that’s how her customers know her. “It’s fun, it’s flexible. You come in and make friends with the customers.”

Now located in Old Town Silverdale above the Lighthouse Café and Wine Bar on Byron Street, Heather’s mom Denise Myers opened the store 20 years ago on Silverdale Way.

“She started out by going to garage sales and getting as many books as she could,” Heather said.

Myers worked to build the business from the ground up and establish a clientele base.

“I think what she did is absolutely amazing,” Heather said. “Used bookstores typically don’t have a high success rate.”

When her mother decided in 2004 that it was time to sell the business, Heather instinctively knew it had to be her who would take over the bookstore. She had been an integral part of the store throughout the years and had taken on the business’s bookkeeping for, at the time, the past six years.

“I realized almost immediately I wouldn’t want to come here if it belonged to a stranger,” Heather said. “I had the experience of working here and the experience with its finances. I decided it needed to be me.”

So Heather purchased Pages Books and moved it to Old Town.

“I always loved the idea of having a used bookstore in Old Town,” she said. “It’s such a neat, quaint area — a really nice comfortable part of town that I would love to get more people to explore.”

Now in its 20th year of business, Heather says it is the organization of the bookstore and great customer service that has made it a continuous success.

“I really think the organization has to be the biggest reason,” Heather said as she gazed at the straight and tidy rows of bookshelves. “My mom was also really focused on customer service, building a relationship with the customers.

“The number one thing I look for in an employee is personality because that can make or break the shopping experience ... I could not have done this without having fabulous employees like Jennie and Margo.”

With about 24,000 used books to choose from, organization is key.

“Just (the other day) a lady told me how this is her favorite place because it is so neat and organized,” Heather said. “Customers will say this is the nicest and brightest. I hear things like that and it makes me so happy.”

The only used bookstore in Central Kitsap, Heather is confident customers will find the type of books they are looking for because every book has been brought in by a customer.

“The stock is constantly replenishing itself,” she said.

Almost every used book is sold at half of the publisher’s original price. Customers also may bring in books for store credit and will receive credit for half of what the book will be sold for.

The selection of books is diverse and includes romance (the biggest seller), fiction, non-fiction, westerns, terror, classics, science fiction, Christian, trade size paperback, children’s and audio books. Pages Books also offers new books at regular prices.

“I also like to carry local interest books by local authors,” Heather explained.

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