If you're making a trip to the Phinney district and looking for something to do, odds are locals would point you in the direction of Phinney Books. The little neighborhood store has been a staple of the community for nearly two decades now.

Originally Santoro's Books, it was bought by Tom Nissley seven years ago after the original owner retired. Thus Phinney Books was born.

Nissley has always been a self-described "book weirdo," but it wasn't until he opened up this store that he really discovered his roots. "I used to work for Amazon, for about ten years, so I was used to selling books to a lot of people who I didn't know — and I so much prefer selling a few books to people I do know," said Nissley with a laugh.

Working as a minion for Jeffery Bezos was unfulfilling for Nissley, who joked, "I have no desire to go to space, good lord!" He doesn't envision himself going back to the corporate world.

In fact, in opening his own store, Nissley found himself connecting to his community in ways he had never imagined. "The thing I like the best is all these people I wouldn't know otherwise," he said. "I've lived in this neighborhood for almost 25 years or so, but I feel like, only in the last seven years do I really know [it], because I'm in the heart of it and talking to people all day."

Like many independent bookstores around Seattle, it's the neighborhood that really gives Phinney Books its charm. "It's a neighborhood bookstore," Nissley explained. "We try to have what people want. I try to listen to what people are asking for, and we try to cover as much as we can in a small space."

Between Nissley's personal taste, that of his staff, and the interests of the residents of the area, the bookstore has a bit of an eclectic collection. Some of the most popular titles circulating around the neighborhood right now can be found in the front window. One example: Braiding SweetGrass — part nature novel, part memoir, part Native American cultural history — has been flying off the shelves, according to Nissley. "It's always been kind of popular, but about a year ago, everyone started asking about it. I love it when people keep telling other people they should read a book... I love when things like that happen," Nissley said with a grin.

The foundation of Phinney Books is the relationships Nissley and other staff members have built with their community through literature. Nissley has become more than just the neighborhood bookseller — to many, he is a friend. As he said, "Standing behind the counter, people come in, and slowly I meet their kids, or we talk about what books we like, and it gets to other things, but all because we started talking about books. Yeah, it just feels really organic, and it just grows out of a mutual interest."

As a friend, Nissley knows what books his neighbors are interested in, and he makes sure to stack the shelves high with novels tailored to their interests. "One of our staff members is kind of an anglophile... and she always has customers for whom she'll go, 'I know so-and-so is going to love this!' What's really unique is, you know, when I'm buying books for the season — even if it's an obscure book or an intellectual history — I can often picture the exact person who might buy it, so I'll buy one, and take a chance... So our uniqueness is really built on those relationships."

Along with building relationships from inside the store, Phinney Books gives back to its community outside its brick-and-mortar walls. The store organizes yearly book fairs for the grade schools in the area. "Other stores in town have stopped doing that, because they're a ton of work, but I really love doing them," Nissley explained. His favorite part of the fairs is "just seeing the kids, just wide-eyed."

Bringing new books to schools is a great way to encourage children to develop a love of reading from an early age. And a love for early readers is on full display at Phinney Books, which stocks a special children's section, full of picture books and graphic novels, hoping to encourage young readers to keep coming back.

As far as competing with the retail giants, Nissley isn't too concerned.

"People always ask, 'How do you compete with Amazon?' I think it might have helped to have been there, but I never feel I am competing with them, because what we do is so different, and people come to us for so many different reasons."

So it's the love for the community, and the personal relationships built around the book counter at Phinney Books that makes the store so special and personal to everyone who steps foot inside it. Customers and sellers have developed an organic relationship, becoming more than just cogs in a retail system. Here, there is a genuine interest shared between human beings, united by a love of books and community.

"Our personalities and our customers' personalities really shape the store," said Nissley. And he wouldn't want it any other way.

Phinney Books is at 7405 Greenwood Ave. N. and online at www.phinneybooks.com.