No offense to the dentist’s office that now occupies the former location of the Spirit of ’76 bookstore, but I never drive or walk by that beauty of an old brick building on the corner of School and Pleasant streets without letting out an audible sigh.
I know I’m not the only one whose heart still hurts from the closure of our independent bookstore in 2019. Yet a few recent personal experiences, some smart innovations and an unexpected national trend give me hope that we may see a bookstore again one day in our town.
First, the personal. A friend and her family were visiting Boston from Virginia a couple months ago and asked for some suggestions beyond a Duck Tour and the Freedom Trail. I hadn’t been myself, but a new attraction in the Back Bay was creating a huge buzz — and it had nothing to do with sports, chefs or politics, the typical generators of Beantown excitement.
Beacon Hill Books and Café opened to great fanfare on Charles Street in September. It had been in the works throughout the pandemic. In many of its early days and even now there’s a line to get in, as if seeking a spot at the latest hot bar.
The visit was a huge hit with my friend and her young daughter, a squirrel mascot named Paige and the homey feel adding a sprinkle of magic to their book-buying experience.
When I finally visited myself recently, each nook, each cranny in the four-floor structure had a kind of magnetic pull. I just wanted to move in.
Others seem to want to post a photo of their visit on Instagram. The store’s buzz, its owner Melissa Fetter has said, is due in no small part to the many Instagram-worthy backdrops the store offers. Whatever it takes, so long as a book purchase is part of the social media visit.
Across the city in the Seaport is another recently opened bookstore, an outpost of Cambridge-based Porter Square Books, attached to the Grub Street writing center. Last week, it was mostly recovered from a flood caused by burst pipes during the recent arctic weather. On this unseasonably warm February day, I wandered the well-curated aisles in contented bliss.
Both of these newcomers happen to feature a café, one more fancy than the other, but with the common denominator of good coffee on site.
Cafés, though, aren’t the only innovation helping the indie bookstore rebound. According to the American Independent Booksellers Association, some 300 new stores have opened around the country in the last year alone with 200 more to come in the next couple. The association now has 2,023 member stores in 2,561 locations, up from 1,689 in early July of 2020.
Before COVID put what appears to have been only a temporary hold on bookstore growth, Harvard Business School professor Ryan Raffaelli released a multi-year study on their resurgence in 2019. His formula for success, what he called the 3 Cs — community, curation and convening — are also cited by Fetter of Beacon Hill Books, as key.
“Serendipitously finding a book is something the algorithm can’t provide,” Fetter said. “You don’t always want to read books like the one you have before. You need time to browse. You need recommendations. You need us,” Fetter told the Boston Globe in a feature piece. Booksellers also count on customers feeling a sense of community in their stores, much like Cheers, where everybody knows your name. And bookstores are serving as the convener of conversation and edification through unique events — author talks, yes, but also other community-themed topics.
That doesn’t mean independent book sellers can ignore e-commerce. Participating has been made easier by online businesses like bookshop.org, which fulfills online orders and shares profits with its indie customers, some $18 million in 2021.
Technology-enhanced inventory management and meeting your customers where they are with a vibrant social media presence round out other progress.
Then, for the ambitious, there’s the example of Harvard Book Store, which hosts an Espresso Book Machine for on-demand printing of hard-to-find titles.
Still other booksellers are jumping on the social activism train that has jumpstarted other causes in recent years.
“We believe it’s time to embrace bookstores as a social cause. They are good for the community,” said one California owner in a Publishers Weekly deep dive on the industry.
What could operating a bookstore as a social cause look like? Experimenting with forming an adjunct non-profit literary foundation to support events and giveaways; “nesting” within another business, sort of like a pop-up, cutting overhead costs; or trying a cooperative model, where members own shares and have a say in decision-making.
Katherine Koch, executive director of the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce, has had no solid reports as yet of booksellers canvassing for a spot, saying, “I’ve heard several rumors of potential bookstores opening in town, but nothing concrete yet. It’s nice to know that it’s being considered.”
Koch also noted Mud Puddle Toys has opened a children’s book section.
Given data that shows bookstores are not only anchors but also economic multipliers for vibrant downtowns, I also wonder whether there’s a role for state or municipal governments to provide incentives and for civic-minded landlords to give a rent break?
A town with a movie theater, a live community theater, music venues and an independent toy store without a bookstore reminds me of a first-grader missing his front teeth. He’s cute, for that moment in time, but as he grows that gap-toothed smile gets filled in. Otherwise, future first impressions would be focused on what is missing.
Our beautiful town is missing something, too. Is there anyone out there ready to fill the bookstore gap? I can already see the lines out the door.
