CHECKING IN WITH ... STEPHANIE THOMAS AND KATHY WALES:

With Barnes & Noble, and Borders dominating the market, running an independent bookshop is an increasingly tough task these days — but sisters Stephanie Thomas and Kathy Wales, the co-owners of Martha’s Bookstore on Balboa Island, have kept their business alive for nearly two decades. They shared some of their secrets with the Daily Pilot Wednesday.

First of all, who’s Martha?

Kathy: Martha was our mother. She’s never been here because she died in 1984, but we thought it would be fitting for the island. We have [businesses called] Wilma’s and Amelia’s here. Our mother was a writer and an avid reader, edited a magazine — the Daily Word, an inspirational publication. We still sell it here.

A lot of small bookstores have closed in Orange County in the last few years. What’s your secret to staying afloat?

Kathy: We really love what we do, and we’ve got great support from the local community, the Newport Beach area and Balboa Island.

I think we’re really good at what we do, too. We’re good at helping people find books they’re really going to like. They’ll come back and ask us what we’d recommend next, and that’s the key to staying in business, to have recurring customers. Tourists are great, but they’re not repeat customers. You can’t live on tourists.

Do you have a lot of repeat customers here on the island?

Stephanie: Some of them come in every week. We sell a lot of children’s books to grandparents and parents, a lot of gifts for the family. We can help people pick something out for their father or brother.

What kind of books do you carry?

Stephanie: We have the usual bestsellers, and we have a big selection of local books, Newport Beach books, that you can’t get anywhere else.

Name me some titles.

Kathy: We have the fire station book. We have “Old Balboa Island Stories” by Jim Jennings. He owned the gas station down on the corner and he died a few years ago, but his wife still has it published and we sell it here. We have “Once Upon an Island” by Nibs White, who lived here his entire life. But the bestsellers and children’s books end up being most of our biggest sellers.

What’s the biggest-selling book you’ve ever had?

Kathy: Harry Potter’s great. There’s so many. “One Thousand White Women” [by Jim Fergus], we’ve been selling that for years. It’s one of those books that are kind of off the radar. It’s just a really good read and a great discussion book, and we keep selling it over and over again.

Do you ever have authors come in to read?

Kathy: We do, sometimes. We don’t have much space for readings, but we have done it. We do have book signings fairly often. We had Tim Gunn, who did “Project Runway,” here in April. We’ve had Mark Victor Hansen, Buddy Ebsen, Steve Allen. A lot of people are not big names, but that doesn’t mean they don’t end up being big names at some point.

What’s the biggest compliment you’ve ever received from a customer?

Stephanie: Just yesterday, we had a couple that came in and said it was the most wonderful experience, the whole feeling of the store, that we were nice to them. You just think, “That’s worth it,” because that’s part of the idea. We want to make people feel at home and find the things they want.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected].