On the morning of Saturday, September 13th, 2008 Hurricane Ike made landfall at Galveston bringing a 15 foot storm surge which left most of the island under water. A week after the storm cleared we returned to find the store had taken in 7 feet of water.

There was a layer of mud covering all the streets and sidewalks. The store and its contents made a scene of chaos.

The old romance section went over like dominoes.

A look down from the mezzanine.

The clean-up crew from a company called 911 Restorations began the work of removing our ruined inventory, producing piles of debris in front of the store. FEMA trucks came by every few days or so to remove the trash, then a new pile would be started.

After the clean-up, we completely remodeled the first floor of the store. New floor tile was installed and replacement shelving was generously donated to us by Bookland in Spring, TX and Half Price Books.