Most people know that if you pair certain foods with the right wines, you'll obtain the maximum pleasure from both. One bookseller is finding that alcoholic beverages also mix with food for thought: Jodee Hosmanek of Ocooch Books & Libations in Richland Center, Wis., sells books, fine wines, microbrewery beer and single malt Scotch in her 1,200-sq.-ft. retail space.
Hosmanek, a former nurse and a teacher with no previous bookseller experience, opened Ocooch Books & Libations on November 24. (The name of the store is taken from the nearby Ocooch Mountains.) A self-described "spontaneous person," she decided to open the bookstore in August and bought the building just 10 days later. The new bookstore is located in a 100-year-old historic building with a tin ceiling, hardwood floors and wavy glass windows. With a population of 5,000, Richland Center is halfway between Madison and La Crosse.
Ocooch Books & Libations offers 2,100 titles, about 35 kinds of wines, 17 microbrewed beers and seven kinds of Scotch; Hosmanek estimates that 60% of her inventory is books. There also is a small homemade yarn section, for the convenience of her comrades in the Ocooch Mountains Spinning Crones group. The bookstore sells primarily fiction and regional titles but also has a strong market in nature and science field guides. Most of the beers carried at Ocooch Books are from Wisconsin microbreweries, while the wines and Scotch are both specialty domestic and European brands.
In the beginning, Hosmanek thought she'd sell just books and yarn. But she was encouraged by booksellers she met at the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association meeting last fall to sell a strong sideline product "for the lean times." She chose wine, beer and Scotch because the business that had occupied the space previously had sold flowers and wine. Although the flower-and-wine concept had not gone over well with local residents, Hosmanek hoped that books and libations would be a more potent combination.
Her instincts were right. "Business has been phenomenal," she told PW. "I can hardly believe it. This town was dry until 1986. Although there was some resistance from the old guard to selling liquor in town, that has not put a dent in my business at all! People want to read, and they want to drink—to get through the rest of this winter."
Business has been as good in the past week as it was during the holiday, she said. "Whatever the reason, there's been a surge in sales after a slump during January's cold snap. I don't know exactly how I'm doing, as my accountant keeps track of those things."
Current bestsellers at the store are political titles by such left-of-center authors as Al Franken, Molly Ivins, David Maraniss and Michael Moore, she said. The bestselling wine is Menage a Trois, from Folie a Deux Vineyard in Napa Valley. The most popular beers include New Glarus Spotted Cow from southern Wisconsin, a 9% alcohol India Pale Ale from Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware, and Sprecher beers from Milwaukee.
Hosmanek reported that patrons have requested she sell cheeses with the books and spirits. "I'm mulling it over," she said. "I think I could do well with that. After all, this is Wisconsin, cheesehead country!"
