The Foundry Bookstore Closes After 29 Years

Henry Berliner, owner of The Foundry Bookstore in Connecticut, summarized one of the primary struggles for independent bookstores in a sentence: "Independents used to have 30 percent of book sales and the chains had 15; now the chains have the 30 percent." The intensification of competition and his wish to retire prompted Berliner to decide to close the 29-year-old bookstore, where he started out as a clerk a year after the store opened. The Foundry will close its doors on June 30.

The 1,200-square-foot general bookstore has been in the same location, on the periphery of Yale University's campus in New Haven, since the store's beginning in 1974. Though near Yale, "We aren't a college bookstore," said Berliner. "The undergraduates usually go to other bookstores. Our customers are faculty and graduate students…. We're more of a community bookstore."

For many years The Foundry thrived -- the store's biggest year was 1993, explained Berliner.

"But," he said, "we've been declining steadily….. There's an incredible amount of competition between bookstore chains, supermarkets, price clubs, and the Internet. It's taken the growth out of the business." The Foundry wasn't generating enough to pay staff and make a profit, so Berliner has been the only full-time employee.

Berliner will maintain his ties to the community even after the closing of The Foundry. He'll still keep the corporation of Foundry Bookstore Inc. intact, and will conduct a phone, fax, and email-order book business, "so customers won't be left in the lurch."

"For years we got by on word of mouth," noted Berliner. "That doesn't work as well anymore. It's been 29 years, and it's enough. We were a very good bookstore." -- Karen Schechner