The Regulator Bookshop

The Regulator Bookshop takes its name from the North Carolinians who rose against colonial authorities in the 1760s. The founders chose it while running a small printing press on Ninth Street. David Birkhead, a Duke graduate, started the Regulator Press in 1974 to print for grassroots organisations. Two years later fellow alumni Tom Campbell and Aden Field joined him. The trio began selling books, and the shop opened in 1976 two blocks from the Duke campus. Field left in 1978 and John Valentine joined Campbell. The two ran the store together until both retired in 2017. They sold it to Wander Lorentz de Haas and Elliot Berger, employees of long standing who kept the culture they inherited. That culture favours small presses and the tastes of the neighbourhood over bestseller tables. The room is not large. A new-arrivals section at the entrance carries titles the owners and staff have read and liked. A mural of a balloon and a camel carrying books marks the children's corner, and two worn couches serve as a reading nook. The shop has hosted Margaret Atwood, John Hope Franklin and Al Gore. It still runs author events through a dedicated events desk. The drugstore and grills that shared the street in 1976 have closed, and the Regulator became the longest-standing business on Ninth Street. A 2024 profile in the 9th Street Journal describes local schools and book clubs treating it as a meeting place for the neighbourhood.