Who better to manage a bookshop than an aspiring writer and poet?

Yesha Townsend, 28, is in her element at The Book Cellar in St George’s, and her passion for books and creative expression is one of the first things that strike you when you enter the snug little shop on Water Street.

Things can sometimes be a little quiet in the east end town, especially outside the traditional tourist season, but The Book Cellar is doing well by filling a niche that serves local residents as much as it does visitors.

“We have a lot of visitors who see it as such an unusual little nook, a little gem. And we have some dedicated followers locally,” said Ms Townsend.

Since late last year the shop has added a further touch of variety by incorporating a mini gallery on the premises. Stained glass mosaics and gifts made by town-based artist Donna Smith are displayed and sold in the shop’s second room.

“It’s a shared space and it’s nice to have something else for our customers,” said Ms Townsend.

The Book Cellar has been part of the Water Street scene since 1980 when it was opened by Gill White. Three years ago it changed hands, with Kristin and Dueane White taking over. Shop manager Ms Townsend joined the team in October 2013. In her childhood days she remembers being a regular visitor to the shop, and she is keen to see it continue to fulfil a role in the community.

“It may seem hard to justify, but it is so important to have this type of shop. Literature adds enlightenment to your life — and you can’t only have cell phone shops or insurance companies,” she said.

There is a homely ambience to The Book Cellar.

“It’s a cosy shop. We have a seating area and we try to make it as comfortable as possible,” said, Ms Townsend, pointing out some locally-made toys that are sprinkled around in the children’s section, and the small seating area where customers are welcome to rest and browse.

There are some new publications on the shelves, but the shop is essentially an outlet for second-hand books. Some are donations, others have been sourced from yard sales and the like.

Bookshops have been having a tough time in recent years. In the UK the number of bookshops halved between 2005 and 2012, according to data from Experian. It has been a similar story in the US, with one of the largest bookshop chains, Borders, going bankrupt in 2011.

The rise of online stores and the prevalence of digital readers, such as Amazon’s Kindles, have been cited as reasons for the decline in the number of traditional bookshops.

While the advance of technology cannot be denied, Ms Townsend is confident there will always be customers wanting a physical book to hold and read.

“Reading a book is a tactile experience,” she said. “You are turning the pages and that itself becomes part of the whole thing. I don’t think physical books are ever going to go away.”

And then there is the market for out-of-print books that have never been digitised. Ms Townsend mentions the late Louise Jackson’s The Bermuda Gombey: Bermuda’s Unique Dance Heritage, as an example of a sought after edition that is hard to source.

The shop has a section specially devoted to the Island’s writers. Ms Townsend feels there should be greater awareness of Bermudian literature and writers, such as Mrs Jackson, Brian Burland, and others.

She has a degree in music composition, is the director of Chewstick’s youth poetry club, and is currently studying Bermudian literature at the Bermuda College.

She loves being surrounded by books and enjoys passing on her enthusiasm for the printed word to customers.

Like other retailers in St George’s, Ms Townsend would like to see more customers visit the town, and occasional visits by cruise ships, but she is quick to point out the endearing qualities of the town and the family-like supportive qualities that fellow retailers and locals have for one another.

And her passion for The Book Cellar is unquestioned. She said: “I would fight to keep this shop open. It is so important and it is something that we need.”