Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved reading. She loved books and even had a summer job at the Bookmart (part of the Phoenix Group), but a big bad wolf told her she should go and get a real job, so she gave it up to work in a hotel and then a bank.

She wasn't really happy there, so her fairy godmother arranged for her to work at a company called Tyco which soon led to a lovely redundancy settlement and allowed her to buy a share in the Bermuda Bookstore.

It may not be quite the fairy tale, but it was certainly a circuitous route that brought Hannah Willmott back to the industry she loves.

Looking back she now sees that she should have stuck with her job at the Bookmart, but sometimes we have to go full circle in order to appreciate what we want.

In any case, experience is rarely without merit. Hannah's degree was in hotel management - a background which she now finds invaluable in the retail industry: "It gives you the customer service and the management experience."

It does seem to have been a remarkable stroke of fate that the Bermuda Bookstore was available when she left Tyco. She and majority shareholder, Nathaniel Butterfield, took over last year and the Queen Street bookstore appears to have taken on a new lease on life. They completed a refurbishment this January which blocked off the upper floor and turned it over to office space.

Downstairs there's a more inviting atmosphere - with sofa next to the window - while the inventory has been expanded and is no longer limited to Bermuda books. It seems to say "browse around, make yourself comfortable".

Some stores may tell you off if you spend too long reading a book with the phrase "we're not a library, you know", but not here. They have drawn a lot of inspiration from the new breed of US and European bookstores, which encourage book lovers to sit down and have a coffee while they dip into a book.

However idyllic it may seem on the surface, very few businesses are actually fairy tales. Here in Bermuda, the margins are good - books are fairly expensive, but they are selling to a relatively small market.

The name of the game will be to capture market share. This ought to be highly achievable because in terms of service, the Bermuda Bookstore and the Book Cellar in St. George's appear to be well ahead of the competition.

In a nutshell, it ought to be a prerequisite for anyone working in a book store to enjoy reading. It's so obvious that it's often used as an example of marketing principles: there's a big difference between selling groceries and books.

Hannah agrees that there has to be a "personal service" element in her business: "That's what we pride ourselves on. Part of the reason I'm doing this is to get to know my customers and help them to find the books they will enjoy."

She does a lot of what she calls 'hand picks'. People come into the store with an idea of a book, but they are not sure of the title. A good bookseller will either be able to point them in the right direction or make an alternative recommendation.

One further challenge is the fact that inventory is fluid. Again, it's not like selling groceries; once you've sold all your cans of sweet corn you need to restock. In the case of "best sellers", you have to keep aware of when the popularity of a title is waning. Otherwise you may end up with too much stock that does not move. Hannah admits that they do not yet have a computer system to assist with inventory, and it's one area where they need to make some improvements.

As for levels of demand, this week's world wide "turn off your television and pick up your book" campaign tends to suggest that books are losing the battle against cable.

Hannah disagrees: "I think that parents are now encouraging their kids to read so much that they are developing a taste for books."

According to Hannah, the Harry Potter "phenomena" has also been instrumental in recruiting young readers:

"Kids are so influenced by their peers that they just follow the trend and then find that they enjoy it."

The increase in sales - following an expansion of her childrens' section - backs this up: "It's something that parents feel good about investing in."

As a parent herself, Hannah is particularly passionate about the childrens' section. She does not have the space to carry every single childrens' book you can think of, but it's a good mix of old and new. "My favourite is the 'Dark is Rising' sequence," she says, adding that it would be popular with any fans of Harry Potter.

As a business strategy, there can be no disputing the wisdom of focusing on the childrens' section: Bermuda's current baby boom should certainly guarantee a good supply of customers for some years to come.

A further innovation is an affiliation with the US Book Sense group. This group of bookstores tries to promote books which fall outside the best sellers category. They produce a news letter which includes a list of up and coming titles.

Bermuda books retain an important place in the store with Bermuda-related titles making up 30 percent of the trade.

Future marketing initiatives will include doing wine tastings while an author does a signing. Just last night Hannah held a signing by the Canadian author of 'The Skating Pond', Deborah Joy Corey.

Hannah also hopes to establish contact with many of the Island's book clubs: "That way I can make sure that there are enough copies and we may even be able to offer them a deal."

The trials and tribulations of a small, quality bookstore have been recently illustrated in the Hollywood comedy 'You've got Mail', starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Like the film, the challenge presented from large overseas book vendors is part of the local equation.

Asked whether the Bermuda Bookstore loses business to Amazon.com, Hannah says that customers who buy a lot of books generally find it cheaper to order them through the Bermuda Bookstore than using the internet, as Amazon's price of post and packaging is fairly high.

In the middle of our interview, one customer comes in to collect 15 books that she has ordered in advance. Hannah has managed to get the books delivered within three days. Not only cheaper than Amazon, but faster too!