BY JANE BLOODWORTH ROWE
PUNGO — You may like historical fiction, romance, nonfiction or the classics – or maybe all three and more. You may spend lots of time reading Dr. Seuss with your three-year-old or have a young reader looking for their own favorites.
Whatever your tastes, Kristin Hildum will have something for you in her new bookstore, Read Books, in Pungo.
Read Books’ Princess Anne location opened in late April at Pungo Square Shopping Center in the village, which is considered the gateway to rural communities in southern Virginia Beach.
Hildum, who currently owns the original Read Books location within Virginia MOCA, said that opening a second location in Pungo seems like a natural expansion. She is a Pungo resident, and she’s also noticed that many of her customers of the business near the Oceanfront come from the Pungo and Sandbridge areas.
Owning a bookstore is the culmination of a long-time dream for Hildum, who said that she loves to read and also loves to share her favorite titles with the community.
A retired librarian in Virginia Beach public schools, she first opened Read Books in 2020 in a temporary location inside an Airstream in the Vibe Creative District.
She wanted to create opportunities for her customers to interact with her and with each other. Hildum began planning special events, including dinners with book authors, reading retreats and get-togethers at local restaurants or breweries.
Those partnerships will continue at Read Books’ second location, too.
Read Books also offers book clubs that meet monthly and appeal to readers with varied tastes, including those interested in reading books by or about classic and contemporary women, armchair travelers who are focused on books set in a particular place and a “Silent Book Club” geared toward more introverted readers.
“We noticed that a lot of people who attended our special events or clubs came from Sandbridge or Pungo,” Hildum said, “and, as much as we love the Vibe, we knew that there was another side to us.”
The focus will be a little different than at MOCA, she said, because at that location she carries a lot of art books and closely coordinates with the MOCA staff to highlight current exhibitions.
“Pungo will be more general,” Hildum said during a recent interview, while she and her staff worked to put finishing touches on the new spot in the village.
It will include fiction and non-fiction, and the fiction will range from contemporary to classic works. There is also a room for young readers, so the shop carries books for people of all ages. The Pungo location will also carry vintage and unique home décor items from The House of Hanbury.
“We pride ourselves on being a community bookstore and paying attention to what the customers want,” Hildum said.
For Hildum, it’s also about family.
Her husband, Scott Hildum, and her 14-year-old son, Cormac Hildum, work with her. Daughter Katrin Hildum, a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, also worked with them during the summer before moving outside the area.
Employee Heather Fine, who will also be working at the Pungo location, has worked for Read Books for two years. She described it as a fun place to work, and she added that she’s an avid reader and enjoys working with book clubs and events.
The Armchair Travelers club is particularly appealing, she said, because the club focuses on “a different place each month.”
The goal?
Traveling around the world through books.
Hours for Read Books, 1776 Princess Anne Road, are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays. Read Books at Virginia MOCA, 2200 Parks Avenue, hours are Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Fridays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit readvb.com for information.
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