By the time my wife Susie and I looked at the building in the fall of 2006, it needed, oh, just a little bit of work. The roof on the north side of the building was leaking and the water had rotted away much of the upstairs floor on the far north side. In one place there was a giant hole in the floor, and an old cast iron bathtub hung over the edge, waiting to fall on someone. You could stand on the ground floor, look through a hole that went through the first and second story ceilings and the attic and see the blue sky. The place was so damp and moldy that there were mushrooms growing out of the bricks.

However, the bricks themselves were impenetrable, as were most of the inner walls. Feeling confident of the building's structural soundness, we began the demolition. The initial plan was to convert the entire building into office space. Then we realized the open plan of the first story was more suitable as retail space. After two retail tenants fell through, Susie and I were standing on a completely cleared space. By this point, we'd ripped out all the old drywall and the bricks were totally exposed. We didn't realize that were both thinking the same thing: this place would make a great bookstore!

When I explained our idea to my interior decorator mother, Marie Falgoust, she instantly envisioned what you see there today. But could we afford it? With prospective office tenants expressing an interest in renting the one and two-room executive suites upstairs, Susie and I thought the numbers could work. So we took the plunge in the spring of 2007 and hired a bookstore manager. Our enthusiastic and brave first manager, Teresa Fruchey, decided to leave her job at a big box bookstore even though we didn't have an office for her. She made one out of the corner of my narrow law office kitchen and worked over a card table. In that tiny space, Teresa performed the imposing task of setting up a store and ordering the books to fill it. At the time, Susie and I weren't much help; I was busy with the law office and Susie was still teaching full-time. Susie could come up with a children's list, and I could pitch in certain areas, but mostly, the store's inventory would have to emerge from Teresa's card table.

Teresa, Susie and I all knew the odds were against us. A bookstore had never succeeded in Thibodaux. But this was one of the reasons motivating us. Susie and I knew that Thibodaux deserved the unique entertainment, education and culture that a bookstore can bring.

From that moment forward, our community built Cherry Books. From our expert local craftsmen who constructed and installed the bookshelves to our bayou's authors and story time readers to most importantly, you, the customer, you have made this place a reality.

In late 2008 through early 2011, Cherry Books benefitted tremendously from the leadership of our second manager Phyllis Lear. Phyllis, a talented artist, graphic designer and art teacher, came to us after Hurricane Gustav sadly destroyed her art studio. At the time of her arrival, Susie had taken over full management of the store after Teresa's departure, yet Susie knew she would be returning to teaching. Thus, Phyllis' appearance and tenure were truly serendipitous blessings. Phyllis, highly overqualified with three master’s degrees, was originally only supposed to pull us through the 2008 Christmas, but she stayed more than two years!

In February 2011, Phyllis handed control of our red book cart to our then assistant manager, Felicia Zenthoefer, who is now rolling with it. Felicia, a bookworm with youthful techno-savvy, has brought in eCommerce, ebooks and is expanding our toy line. She is assisted by our steady assistant manager Joan Durocher and enthusiastic bookseller Brittany Tabor.

Then there's you. You are multi-faceted. You are both the individual and the institution. You are the history lover buying historic nonfiction and the parish library making a bulk purchase of children's books. You are the book club member purchasing cutting edge fiction and the public school system making our week with a big order of classics. You are the mom buying a Melissa and Doug toy for a birthday and the parochial school making a large order of teen fiction for their school library. You are the Nicholls State University professor, the high school student, the grandmother, the reader in the deer stand and the wide-eyed tike. You are from all over our region - Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. Mary, St. James and Assumption, and recently, from all over the world wide web.

In every sense, we are here because of you. We thank you for making our history a reality.