There was something indescribably cozy about the small room. It was sparsely furnished with an antique-looking couch, a brick fireplace and a dark wood coffee table.

But the most noticeable thing about the room was the books. There were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, stuffed with books, that took up every available space in the room.

Even the coffee table was so covered in books that tabletop was barely visible.

And, in the middle of all of this, Steve McAllister sat on the couch discussing a subject that is near and dear to his heart, something he is passionate about: books, of course.

McAllister and Solomon’s Used and Rare Books, located at 4402-1 Wrightsville Avenue, first opened in June of 1993. It began as Linda Solomon’s idea.

Solomon, a mother of three children, was working as a lawyer at the time. But she wanted to find a line of work that would allow her to spend the most amount of time with her family.

Solomon and McAllister had worked together at the New Hanover County Library before. McAllister was running his own catalogue business to sell books at the time. When Solomon approached him with her idea, they decided to become partners and start their own business.

While they have a stock of over 20,000 volumes, you won’t find just any books in this store. “We’re not a store that throws books on the shelves, regardless of their subject,” said McAllister.

McAllister and Solomon’s Used and Rare Books specializes in several fields, including American History, American Literature, Local History, Military History, North Carolina and South Carolina. And there are some kinds of books that you will never find on their shelves, like romance novels.

McAllister says that they stock only the best authors and, especially, signed copies. They have about 1300 currently in the store.

Some people may wonder how you could even acquire that many books. But McAllister says it easy to buy books from individuals, estates, etc. “Buying books that have resale value is the hard part,” said McAllister.

When asked how he thought their bookstore is different than similar stores, McAllister said that he, his partner, and their four employees are all very knowledgeable about their books. Most of their books reflect their specific areas of interest.

For example, their knowledge regarding books on North Carolina history is extensive. They have huge collections of North Carolina books and sell many of those to university libraries.

They also have many books on South Carolina history as well. “If I was looking for books about 19th century South Carolina this is the first place I’d come in Wilmington,” McAllister said. There are also many manuscripts and pieces of correspondence that have historical importance in the bookstore.

However, as much as McAllister and Solomon love their little bookstore, they also understand the changes that have been happening and will continue to happen. When they opened there were 100 or more stores very similar to them in the state of North Carolina alone. Now, only a handful remain.

And McAllister believes he knows why that is. The market is changing quickly and physical stores are not always where people go to buy things anymore. “Online is the way of the future,” McAllister said.

That is not a problem for McAllister and Solomon’s. They have been selling books online since 1995. And they have currently sold 77,000 volumes through their online store.

McAllister says that selling online has benefits that they can’t get simply through their physical store. For one, they can reach people and sell books that they couldn’t in the store. They have around 2,000 books that would never sell in Wilmington but will easily sell online.

“The internet is a challenge but, for us, we’re up to that challenge, because that’s where we do a lot of our business,” McAllister said. Their online database can be found at biblio.com.

The marketing is also better online. Television and newspaper ads are expensive and don’t always draw in the clientele needed.

The target clientele for their bookstore includes many different ages but they all have one thing in common: they are either educated people or people who want to become more educated than they already are. Online anyone can find out about them and come check out their store.

And their customers certainly seem to love them.

One customer, D.C. North, 80, has been coming religiously ever since the store opened in 1993. “I like anything to do with the history of Wilmington,” North said. He also likes their wide selection of good children’s books.

Other customers, like Steven Gibson, have just discovered the store. “They seem to have a little bit of everything,” Gibson said.

McAllister says that they have survived 18 years by being focused and unique. They will hopefully continue to adapt and face challenges as the years go by, bringing rare and unusual books to new generations.