Posts

Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown Rewrites the Meaning of Success

Mike and Ruth Raubertas opened Four Seasons Books at 116 W. German Street in 1991 after searching carefully to find the perfect place for such an endeavor. Shepherdstown proved to not only possess the perfect location, but it also hosted the perfect local population—and a college to boot.

Kendra Adkins

Kendra Adkins was a student at that college (Shepherd University these days) in 1994 when she spotted a help-wanted sign in the window and walked in to ask about a job that would quickly become her career—a vocation that has allowed her to shape minds young, old, and in between by promoting the power of reading, idea exchange, and the shared human experience.

At a time when print reading, and thus bookstores, struggle to find firm footing within a new era, Four Seasons is doing just fine. Adkins, the shop’s full-time manager, originally planned to become a high school English teacher, and sees Four Seasons as an extension of that original plan to teach. She also thinks she knows exactly why the store is bucking modern print trends.

“I knew very quickly that this is what I wanted to do—this was my calling,” she affirms. “I sort of took over managerial duties, and ended up taking over the children’s books entirely. Over the years, the store evolved and became a very special place. It works here because we’re a smart town—an incredibly special community.”

In 2002, Adkins’ daughter was born, prompting Mike (Raubertas) to joke that she took a ten-year maternity leave. But after returning to Four Seasons in 2012, Adkins assumed her full-time role, and set out to continue enhancing the experience, value, and purpose of this small-town treasure.

Four Seasons front room

“Within my role here, I’ve been able to work one on one with students, which is something you don’t have the ability to do in education anymore,” she says. “I’ve established relationships with children in our community, with poetry groups, writing, and book groups. I’ve really been able to explore and interact with the community through the bookstore. ”

Four Seasons is highly involved with Shepherd University through book events, as well, and also works closely with the Appalachian Writer-In-Residence Program. But one of the key initiatives Adkins has always pursued is the community’s youth (an additional campaign steadily maintained by Adkins is Read Aloud West Virginia—placing volunteer community readers in local schools to read to young people).

“We really advocate for the education of young people and children here, and try to build that bridge within the community. As a result, over the years, the store has grown and taken over bits and pieces of the building. Generally, most things I do personally through the community are an outreach effort of Four Seasons Books.”

Children's Books

Boasting vibrant and popular offerings throughout the store—from fiction, non-fiction, mystery/thriller, and science fiction/fantasy to history, biography, memoir, young adult, cooking/gardening, poetry, and much more—it’s still hard not to notice the impressive advocacy efforts Four Seasons has pursued to instill the value of reading in children. The entire back two rooms of the store basically comprise a magical wonderland for young readers.

“I’m seeing more and more with children where reading simply isn’t an important part of their household anymore,” she admits. “So we want to do all we can to reach these kids.”

Fortunately for the community at large, Four Seasons Books takes a special interest in just about every aspect of the human relationship with knowledge and idea exchange.

“One of the benefits of an independent bookstore is the personal relationships you establish with the members of your community,” says Adkins. “I believe that Four Seasons wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it is without those relationships. And I’m not sure I’d be able to do what I do, to the capacity that I do it here, in any other community. The shop speaks for itself—book people know what a gem this store is. Places like this are few and far between now. We have deep connections with the people that live here.

Four Seasons Offerings
“Part of what I get to do here is immerse myself in knowledge all day long. But the best part is the chance for shared experiences—discussions with people. It matters here. The value of knowledge. Being present with ourselves and each other. Watching young people begin to understand that value—the common bonds that tie us all together through this type of exchange.”
https://shepherdstown.info/tag/west-virginia-bookstore/
shepherdstown.info
crawl=CC-MAIN-2020-50
72089
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:WLPFFM6P4BQ4MYDFHD2GDXHQSAOCQXS3
<urn:uuid:e5e5bdbe-6ba8-4909-8e14-594dffe4859f>
2020-11-26T18:24:33Z
192.124.249.159
text/html
sha1:BDQ5DY3OPNWO33SJNNTQBSYN22QN3XND
<urn:uuid:627a57f4-73e0-4ba9-9586-3d62e63882fd>
https://shepherdstown.info/tag/west-virginia-bookstore/
response
<urn:uuid:095fdbd6-4ffc-4aac-8279-aa65f35b62fc>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2020-50
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for November/December 2020
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-89.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.17 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/