How the raven ended up on Craven after Hurricane Matthew

Nevermore Books, a local bookstore that carries gently used, vintage and new books, reopened this week at 702 Craven St. in Beaufort after flood damage from Hurricane Matthew forced them to close their original location.

When owners Lorrie and Dave Anderson had friends check in on their business on Carteret Street the Saturday after Hurricane Matthew, everything seemed fine.

But on that Tuesday after the storm —— when the couple had returned from their trip in New York and had started cleaning up the flooding at their own home on Lady’s Island — Anderson received the bad news.

“A friend of ours was like, ‘I’m sorry, but there’s condensation on the windows (at the store),’” she said. “So we rushed to the store, and we had to move all the books out and to storage.”

According to Anderson, the store was flooded by groundwater after the hurricane, but not many books were lost. She said once the water was inside, it was just a matter of getting them out of a wet space.

“We had no idea (what we were going to do),” she said. “We have a lot of friends. A lot of friends pitched in and helped ... I couldn’t even begin to list how many people, it’s amazing. Starting with our landlords from our previous space.”

Though they’re living in a temporary home at the moment, Anderson said they wanted to put the bookstore first and eventually worked out a deal to rent the space on Craven Street.

“It’s not an easy thing to do, to move a whole, entire bookstore,” she said.

The new space is quite larger compared to their former location, according to Anderson. She said they didn’t have too many book signings and readings at their old store because of its size.

“You could do something here a lot easier,” she said. “So I do plan to do more book-signings.”

The first book-signing at the new location will be with Michele Moore, author of “The Cigar Factory” from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday.

On the walls of the building are vintage posters for sale by the business Type & Inc., which also owns the building.

“They are gorgeous,” Anderson said. “I think they lend a lot to the whole space and then I think they’re a really good complement for the books and the shelves and everything else within here.”

Already, Anderson said they’ve seen many former customers return to their business after the relocation and that Tuesday was a “fabulous opening day.”

“We’re just happy to be open again and happy to see ... customers, old and new, and friends,” she said.

This story was originally published November 10, 2016 at 4:49 PM with the headline "How the raven ended up on Craven after Hurricane Matthew."