April 3, 2008 Issue
Business Spotlight
The Cornerstone Bookstore—
Bringing Joy and Faith to Boone for 29 Years
Story by Sam Calhoun
“There’s a principle that says ‘God honors hard work,’” said John Pope, co-owner of The Cornerstone Bookstore, located at 1894 Blowing Rock Road. “I’ve always believed, if you put your hands to something God will honor it.”
Pope speaks softly while he sits in a second floor lounge in Cornerstone overlooking Blowing Rock Road on a sunny afternoon. A sense of thankfulness and peace is in his voice as he explains his life, his bookstore, his family and his faith. He is proud, but he is quick to give thanks where thanks are due—to God and to the community that has supported him and his business for 29 years.
Pope owns Cornerstone with his wife Patricia, a woman he met in high school and courted in college, a woman who stood by him through a tour of duty in Vietnam and who embarked on a lifelong mission to uplift their faith through owning a Christian bookstore.
“The Cornerstone Bookstore is a specialty shop,” said Pope. “It is a business dedicated to uplifting our faith in Jesus Christ in the marketplace.”
Most people who drive Blowing Rock Road know The Cornerstone Bookstore. The more than 10,000 square foot structure is nestled between hotels, restaurants and gas stations, piquing drivers’ interest with its unique but indigenous architecture.
The building is bold, along with its interior, but the feel is different.
“We wanted a place where people can come in and feel comfortable in an atmosphere that uplifts faith,” said Pope. “This is a retail shop, not a religious space.”
To best describe his building and its location, Pope quotes a psalm—“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Pope loves the fact that his building is located in the middle of so many contrasting businesses in the middle of Boone. He believes that the contrast reminds onlookers that the Lord has blessed his business—but that came from a lot of hard work on Pope and Patricia’s part.
Pope was an army brat, living out of a duffle bag for most of his youth. He finally settled down in Raleigh after spending four years in the army, two on active duty in Vietnam. When he returned home from the war, Pope married Patricia, who was attending Meredith College in Raleigh at the time.
“I got no ‘Dear John’ letter in the service, so we got married,” laughed Pope.
Using his G.I. Bill money after discharge, Pope enrolled in North Carolina State University and obtained a degree in parks and recreation.
Toward the end of the 1970s, Pope and Patricia were living in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where they ran a motel. Soon after, the couple purchased a piece of property in Blowing Rock near the present-day Azalea Gardens. The couple moved to Blowing Rock and mulled over whether to put a hotel on the property or build an ice cream/Christian shop.
One day while the couple was eating breakfast at the now-defunct Sunshine Inn in Blowing Rock, God provided the answer.
“God dropped into my heart the idea to do a Christian bookstore,” remembered Pope. “I told my wife, she felt it too and I knew right then, ‘We’re going to do a Christian bookstore.’”
But there was still a mountain to climb.
Patricia took a job at ASU and Pope started delivering papers for the Watauga Democrat. One winter passed and Pope decided to sell his property in Blowing Rock and take a job with Pet Dairy.
“I just waited on the Lord,” said Pope.
Over that winter, a Christian bookstore opened on King Street in Boone. Pope thought that Boone wasn’t big enough for two Christian bookstores and he didn’t want to compete. Pope put his dream on the back burner. Soon after, though, the owner of the bookstore decided to leave Boone to go to Bible school and offered to sell the business to Pope. But Pope wanted to start his business from scratch and turned down the offer. However, the door had just swung open for Pope to place his dream on the front burner and he and his wife started their plans.
In 1980, Pope opened The Cornerstone Bookstore in the present-day location of Los Arcoiris in Boone—a 1,000 square foot space the business inhabited for five years. Around 1985, a developer built Carriage Square on Highway 105 Extension in Boone and approached Pope about being the main tenant. He agreed and moved the business. Within the next five years, Pope expanded the bookstore to encompass three of Carriage Square’s units, totaling 4,000 square feet.
“We did real well there,” said Pope, who was able to quit working at Pet Dairy after the business grew at Carriage Square, enabling him to help Patricia run the store. “I ran a paper route for the Watauga Democrat for 10 years and worked at Pet Dairy so the store could grow.”
In the 1990s, a man approached Pope and offered to help invest in the store and move it to a better location. At the time, the store’s placement on Highway 105 Extension made Cornerstone a destination store, and Pope thought a new, higher-profile location might make it more of a local’s and tourist stop.
The investor and Pope spotted a desirable location on Blowing Rock Road—a piece of land that was the former location of Mike’s Inland Seafood. Phil Templeton owned the property but didn’t want to sell. After 20 minutes of Pope and the investor stating their case and plans for the property, Templeton agreed to sell.
“That was the beginning of this dream,” said Pope, who spent the next two years with Patricia visiting other bookstores to get ideas. Pope partnered with Banner Elk architect Joe Pavelchak to design the building. “Joe and I agreed that if you are going to do something for the King, you better do it first class.”
Today, Pope and Patricia’s 17 employees run a store that sells an array of Bibles, Christian books of all categories, art, stationary, gift cards, jewelry and music—there’s even an engraving gallery where customers can get wood laser engraving while they wait. The store also features a children’s department that carries home-schooling materials, and multiple seating areas are scattered among the store’s two floors. The seating areas are perfect for group meetings, but so far only a girls’ club meets there once a month.
“We have nothing ongoing [in those areas] but they’re certainly open for that,” said Pope.
A broad range of clientele, from church groups to locals, from tourists to local churchgoers, frequent the store. Cornerstone’s location lends itself to more tourist traffic, helping bolster sales in the summer months. Pope and Patricia are hoping to find ways to get more students into the store, even if it is just to study in the comfortable surroundings.
Cornerstone also offers online book sales, similar to Amazon.com. By clicking to www.cornerstonebooksonline.com, customers can order thousands of Christian books at competitive prices.
Pope has no plans to expand even though he has had plenty of opportunities. As a specialty store, his first focus is on the immediate community and he is happy just where he is.
“I try to stay in the niche that God has given me. I want to be faithful with this and enjoy it all along,” said Pope, who knows of friends who expanded their businesses only to be burdened with the new workload. Pope, however, is planning to expand his Internet services. “But I will always stay true to the specialties of Cornerstone.
“If you have a basic commitment to your vision and purpose and what you want to do and then stick to it, then you will succeed,” he said. “My relationship with the Lord has given me stimulus.
“The joy of [owning this store] has never gotten old,” added Pope. “God has blessed us and we want this store to always be a blessing to the community.”
The Cornerstone Bookstore is located at 1894 Blowing Rock Road in Boone. The business is open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday in the winter and from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the summer. For more information, call 828-262-1226, 828-262-1296, 1-888-663-7625 or click to www.cornerstonebooksonline.com.
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