Derek and Jessica Hann take over Havre Book Exchange

Derek and Jessica Hann officially took ownership of The Havre Book Exchange in the Atrium Mall Sunday.

"I guess in the back of my mind, since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to own a bookstore," Derek Hann said.

Hann is a former reporter for the Havre Daily News and has been working at the Book Exchange since he left the paper Feb. 21, but he has been a Havre resident for years.

"When I first moved to Havre, in, I believe it was 2015 might have been 2016, I enrolled at Northern to be a welding student," Hann said, "Whenever I move to a new town, I try to find the book store as fast as I can. And I found this one."

Hann said he knew the previous owner, Sue Pollington, for some time before taking ownership of the store from spending so much time at the bookstore over the years.

"That was one of me and my wife's date spots," he said.

Hann said that while he was working at the Daily News Pollington told him she had bought a farm down in Kentucky and offered to sell him the place.

"I decided to leave journalism, a job which I really loved and really enjoyed, and decided to go pursue another dream for a while," he said.

Hann has had many jobs before he came to work at the paper.

"I grew up on the East Coast. Over there I was mostly doing construction work," he said, "I bounced around the country for a little bit, I worked in a music studio for a while, I had a job installing lights on cop cars."

It was during his time at Northern that Hann began dating his future wife, Jessica. After finding out his fiancé was pregnant with their daughter, Jennavieve, he dropped out of college and took a job at Clausen & Sons but quit that job after publishing a poetry book "Blessings of Life," for which he went on a book tour.

"It wasn't as lucrative as my construction job, but it was a fun experience," Hann said.

After the book tour Hann took a job at the Havre Daily News.

"Tim Leeds and Stacy Mantle decided to give me a shot, which was nice," he said.

Hann said his time at the paper is what sparked his passion for the town.

"While I was working for the Havre Daily News, I got to see what it really meant to live in Havre and how everyone interacts and I kind of fell in love with being here," he said.

He said this love was one of his motivations to buy the Book Exchange.

"I realized I wanted to be more involved with the community, I wanted to ... participate more," he said.

Hann said he believes becoming a small business owner will allow him to become more ingrained in the community.

Since they started working at the bookstore, the Hanns have been hosting a poetry night every other Saturday. Anyone can come and read poetry, original or otherwise, or just sit and listen.

Derek and Jessica Hann sometimes read poetry of their own when there's a lull.

"It's mostly to make people feel comfortable," Jessica Hann said.

The next poetry night will be March 28.

Hann, who also worked at the Havre Daily News as a graphic designer and writes poetry of her own, has a full-time job at Little Miracles Daycare.

"I work there so I can be with my daughter and make some extra money," Hann said, "... I tried to baby sit from my home, but that didn't work out. My old day care provider, who is now my boss, was opening a new day care and asked me if I'd like to help her run it, and that's what I do now."

Despite her job at Little Miracles she does spend time at the bookstore, Hann said.

"I generally spend a couple hours during the day, but mostly on Saturdays at the bookstore helping," she said.

The couple has devoted much of their time at the Book Exchange getting the store organized how they want it.

"The main goal right now is just organizing the entire store, which is going to take us the bulk of the upcoming year," Hann said.

Despite this task, Hann said, she is confident in her and her husband's chances.

"It's going pretty well," she said, "We've gotten good turnout, we've gotten quite a few new customers, and got a quite a bit of interest in how we're reorganizing."

"Derek and I make a pretty good team," she added.

Derek Hann also talked about hosting family reading sessions every weekend.

"A lot of families in Havre, both parents work a job, so having Saturday book readings will work really well," he said, "That way it's not just the kid, or kid and the grandparent, but the entire family is able to come. Parent's sharing that reading experience with their kids is a huge part of having the kids fall in love with reading."

The goal of getting kids to fall in love with reading is one Hann said is very personal.

"Growing up, I was dyslexic," he said, "so I had a really hard time reading. So, when I finally did get a good grasp on reading it became very important to me. A whole new world was opened up and I want to give that to other kids."

Hann said he also has long-term goals for the Book Exchange. He said he eventually wants to put in a recording studio to attract local musicians and create a comfortable atmosphere for customers.

He said he wants to make the store more like it was under its original owner, Anne Shaw, who started the business back in 2005.

"She ran a very good business," Hann said, "... We're trying to bring the store back to what it used to be like, I guess. Kinda honoring the history of the story."

But Hann said the store has challenges that will need to be overcome.

"The biggest challenge is letting people know that we're here," he said. "... Advertising is the biggest hurdle."

Hann said he hopes that the store's grand re-opening used-book sale that begins next Monday will help draw people's attention, but he's also looking to reach out to other local businesses.

"We have Artitudes right across from us, so we'd love to do stuff with them, we'd love to partner with the breweries and the distilleries and whoever else," he said.

Hann said he hopes promoting the Book Exchange will also promote the Atrium Mall in the process.