New SPI Business Keeps Books On Island Shelves

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New SPI Business Keeps Books On Island Shelves

Karma Coffee & Books adds a cool vibe on South Padre Island.
Karma Coffee & Books adds a cool vibe on South Padre Island.
Karma's book collection isn't large but big enough with plenty of great reads.
Karma’s book collection isn’t large but big enough with plenty of great reads.

Walk into Karma Coffee & Books in South Padre Island and it’s immediately a place where you want to sit and stay a while.

There’s a wide variety of coffee-based drinks to go with breakfast and lunch sandwiches – and of course books. It’s an ideal place to take a break from the beach sun and surf. The way that Will Everett sees it is that his new coffee and book shop is picking up where Paragraphs left off. The latter was a longstanding SPI book store that closed in recent months when its owners retired. Everett decided to take that baton, with the support of Paragraph’s former owners.

“I acquired some fixtures and inventory from them,” said Everett in early September, just before his new shop opened. “They have been really helpful.”

For Everett and his business partner, Roin Khurami, the new business on 2500 Padre Boulevard is their second on the Island. They also own and operate Café Karma down the same boulevard on SPI’s main street. Everett said the design of their new shop is something they did themselves to reflect their tastes. He calls it “a real patchwork,” and if so, it’s an artful one.

Karma Coffee & Books is an ideal spot to take a break from sand and surf.
Karma Coffee & Books is an ideal spot to take a break from sand and surf.

Retro-style lamps hang from the ceiling with animal paintings on the walls. The artwork has coffee themes with a kangaroo and raccoon holding coffee cups. The range of books is diverse and a little eclectic, and curated by Everett to reflect a more unique selection and not one that tries to keep up with bestsellers found on the sprawling online book markets.

Everett believed it was worthwhile to keep a bookstore on the Island to maintain that cultural component on SPI. He has traveled the world as a journalist, producer and development specialist, living in Afghanistan, where he met Khurami when Everett worked for the United States Agency for International Development.

By then, Everett had South Padre Island in his blood. He came to the area in the early 1980s, visiting his father, Eddie, who opened two restaurants in Port Isabel. Father and son grew to love the coastal area. No matter where Everett traveled, he found himself coming back to SPI.

“I felt like the Island was calling,” he said of his returns to SPI.

With a second business here, the roots run even deeper.

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