So who are these three women eager to bring a bookstore to Rockville Centre, which is on the South Shore of Long Island? Peggy, Dianne and Carol think it’s important to let their patrons know why they are the ones to bring Turn of the Corkscrew, Books & Wine to such a perfect community.

Meet Peggy

Peggy was raised in Brooklyn, along with her nine siblings, all who loved reading and practically lived at the neighborhood library. Once she started her own family, Peggy became a daycare provider that lasted about seven years. She enjoyed entertaining the little ones with stories. But then both her kids and the ones she cared for got older, so Peggy half-heartedly started looking for a job outside the home. At first, the very idea was intimidating. That’s when she saw an ad for just the perfect job and it was a short drive from her home. Bassett Books was coming to her neighborhood! But, before they even had a chance to open, Borders Books took over and soon she was hired as their children’s clerk, after a petrifying two hour interview! Having moved up the ranks and becoming a General Manager, Peggy stayed with Borders for fifteen years, but upon witnessing the company’s struggles and seeing many of her peers losing their jobs, she decided to get out to pursue other opportunities. However, she always missed being surrounded by books and would occasionally sigh and say, “Wouldn’t it be great to own a bookstore?”

“Yes, Peggy, yes it would!”

Now she’s busy researching financial figures, writing up the business plan for Turn of the Corkscrew, Books & Wine, and preparing the way to successfully open the bookstore with Carol and Dianne.

Now Here’s Carol

Carol comes from a small town in Upstate New York near the Canadian border, about an hour or so drive from Montreal. The only time she had access to books was when school was in session; otherwise, she would hole up in her bedroom and write her own stories. Then, when she was twenty years old, she married and moved to Long Island with her husband. Eighteen months later she gave birth to her son and several years later she adopted two baby girls from Korea. During that time, she kept writing, went to college, and wrote her first novel. What she discovered was that she needed to somehow network and what better place than at a bookstore? As it happened, Borders Books & Music was opening a new store about a fifteen minute drive from her home, so she applied as a part time bookseller. After having to take a written test on her book and music knowledge, she was hired. Like Peggy, she too moved up the ranks and was eventually hired to work in the new Park Avenue Manhattan location as the Community Relations Coordinator, which then led to her working as the National Event Coordinator. Meanwhile, she got divorced but continued writing and in October 2005, Without Grace, her first novel, was published. The day she got her first review, which compared her book to To Kill a Mockingbird, (Lord have mercy!) was the same day her position, along with others at the company, was terminated. She took advantage of knowing both sides of the book industry and started her own publishing consulting business. Like Peggy, she would also fantasize about bringing good books to the general public. Now, with hard work, she plans to make it happen.

Last But Certainly Not Least, Meet Dianne

Dianne was a voracious reader as a child and would write letters to authors of books she liked. She grew up in Queens, graduated from Siena College and then moved to Atlanta, which didn’t last too long since she is a New Yorker at heart. She then worked in the Barnes & Noble corporate office in Manhattan. Her job was to meet with the publishers and develop marketing and advertising plans for their titles. She interacted with every phase of the book–going from the publisher to the buyer to the store manager. She loved watching the evolution of the process where she was handed a manuscript to read and then seeing it as a finished book advertised in a full page New York Times ad and displayed in a store window. Besides being an ideas girl, Dianne was also a Kennedy-phile and wrote Jackie’s Treasures, which was published by Crown with a first print run of 100,000. Then after ten years at B&N, Dianne was offered to work in the marketing department at Random House. She enjoyed pitching an idea and following it through to a finished concept. She and her husband both worked in the city, but when she was pregnant with the second of her four sons, they decided to move to suburbia. What they knew they wanted though, besides a quick commute to Manhattan, was to live in a town with sidewalks, restaurants and lots of activities. What they discovered was that Rockville Centre fit the bill and they’ve lived there for eighteen years now. Dianne says, “The only thing missing was books. I had toyed with the dream of opening a boutique bookstore in town, but was daunted by the idea of doing it alone.” However, now that problem has been solved and she is thrilled to help bring Turn of the Corkscrew, Books & Wine to Rockville Centre

So there you have it. Carol, Dianne and Peggy invite you to stay tuned as they continue in their journey to open a bookstore and invite your questions and comments.