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Gavin’s Books
About
Store Hours
Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Saturday: 10AM–6PM
Sunday 12–4PM
About Us
Sheila Butterworth from Lancashire, who’d come to the states with barely a nickel, but eventually managed to have five kids and a long, happy marriage to Harold. After their nest was empty, Sheila convinced her husband, an IBM programmer, to open a bookstore in Clovis, California. Logical and cautious man that he was, Harold was reluctant, but agreed. They called their shop, “The Bookworm.”. Harold was nervous about working at the counter, but Sheila was a natural and, before long, Harold told his wife what she already knew, “We should’ve done this a long time ago.”
When Harold got sick some time later, their short time at The Bookworm needed to come to a premature end and, after losing Harold and relocating here to the central coast, Sheila really wanted to do it again. Bold personality that she was, she paid no mind to detractors. She began buying up used books wherever she could, running around town as a regular attendant of local thrift stores and garage sales, packing her garage with boxes and boxes of books, and in 2005, her second Bookworm opened for business in Santa Maria.
It was only a matter of months before the shop started getting local attention and, in her second year, The Bookworm was voted the best bookstore in northern Santa Barbara County in The Sun’s reader’s poll, a distinction we’re grateful to have been awarded each year since. Customers that have been coming in for a while will remember Sheila’s inspirational sayings on bits of green paper and, of course, her gratitude rocks (“always remember to be grateful!”) that are still carried by many of those with whom she crossed paths. If you see her in the local grocery, feel free to ask her for one- she still carries them with her and she’s likely to have a story to share too.
230 E Betteravia Rd Suite K Santa Maria CA 93454 United States