Around 1985, G. Wilson McIntosh opened a
bookstore, a music store, and a card shop at the Ribaut Mall (Now
Beaufort Town Center) on Boundary Street. Technology changes wiped
out independent music stores; greeting cards declined in popularity;
but The Beaufort Bookstore persevered, not without a little help
from Pat Conroy (Wilson's Citadel upperclassman) and so many other
local authors and readers. It hurt to say goodbye to Belk's and
later K-Mart! Around 1996, as his work with student book services at
Technical College of the Lowcountry was concluding, Wilson opened
The McIntosh Book Shoppe on Bay Street, filling it with "South
Caroliniana" and rare collectibles (including signed Conroy books!).
In 2020, Wilson accepted an offer to sell the Boundary Street store
to a recent arrival, Bruce Page (a retired teacher and Protestant
minister). Bruce has recently partnered with Kate Skinner's River
and Marsh in Habersham (where he lives with wife, Susan). He
sponsors dozens of book events at the two locations. Coming up: Children's Reading Circles twice a month and perhaps a
book club at either store. Watch the Bookstore ads in every LOWCOUNTRY WEEKLY for news of coming efforts, sometimes jointly with
the Pat Conroy Center. The bookstore is active on Facebook and
Instagram.
While we are not
yet one-stop shopping, we have a variety of gifts, toys, reading
paraphernalia and cards. If you don't know your friends' reading
taste, give them a Beaufort Bookstore Gift Card!
