When people approach the counter at Everyone’s Place Bookstore and African Cultural Center on North Avenue, chances are they’re not just checking out.

Customers often share a memory sparked by the aromatic atmosphere from an incense lightly burning in a corner, reminding them of visits to the store in their youth.

“I find that surprising, the amount of people that hold the connection to their family member by coming here,” said Olakekan Kamau-Nataki, who works in the store with relatives.

The sentiments make sense. The business has been around for almost 40 years — longer than Olakekan Kamau-Nataki has been alive.

Her parents, Nati and Mama Tabia Kamau-Nataki, opened on North Avenue four doors down from their current location, where they’ve been for about 35 years.

One of Mama Tabia’s first and fondest memories of her business is of checking people out at Everyone’s Place as Olakekan sat in a bassinet next to the register.

The family-run business offers body oils, African fabrics, shea butters, clothes, vitamins and more on the first floor. The second floor is filled with books ranging from the works of well-known Black authors to titles that explore the African diaspora. There’s also a section for kids.

Their goal is baked into the store’s name, being a connector for anyone to receive resources or information about their roots and their community.

“No matter what the climate is currently, people are always looking for information that sometimes are just not available,” Olakekan Kamau-Nataki said.

What would you say has contributed to the longevity of your business?

Mama Tabia Kamau-Nataki: Our good customers and our customer service. We have what some people are looking for because they go through difficulties with being Black in America or wherever you’re from, because this is everyone’s place. You come here to try to find resources to help you to get through whatever it is you’re going through. Mostly, the resources would be the books.

What have been some of your favorite parts about owning your business?

Mama Tabia Kamau-Nataki: It’s been exciting to meet the people because we treat people really well. We do extra customer service. That is one of my favorite things, especially when families come and it’s not just a man or a woman, but they bring their family and they shop.

Is there anything in here that you think people would be surprised that you sell?

Olakekan Kamau-Nataki: Maybe the variety of books, because I think the vastness of what we carry as books is much more than what you would expect. It’s not always necessarily a book I personally want to read, but if it’s something that facilitates somebody’s journey, their learning or just something that interests them, we try and carry it so people can have it.

How do you decide which books you’re going to sell?

Olakekan Kamau-Nataki: A lot of it really is based off of customer requests and then things that are Afro-centric, Pan-African, the entire diaspora. I think that’s one of the good things about small businesses and small bookstores is that we are not beholden to necessarily only making sure we carry books that are the most popular. We can have a broader selection that will interest more than just people that look at bestsellers lists.

What have been some significant challenges over the past 39 years?

Mama Tabia Kamau-Nataki: The biggest challenge would probably be the neighborhood that we’re in because it causes some people to not want to come here, but it’s really good that we’re here. We have customers in this community that come here, as well. Since we’ve been here, we’ve not had a problem with this being in this community and our customers haven’t either.

How important is it to keep a small business like this going in Baltimore?

Mama Tabia Kamau-Nataki: It’s just very important because people are always trying to find some more information about whatever it is they’re going through. I remember when the police first let people get locs. A man used to go ahead and get his locs done every day. He came here trying to find out where he could get his hair done.

Different people from different jobs would come and try to find out information about whatever’s going on with their job to see if there was anything they could read or anything that we knew that they could implement.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.