Life After Bibelot: Four Former Employees Have Created Their Own Community-Centered Bookstores

In March 2001, when the owners of Maryland's Bibelot Books and Music declared bankruptcy and abruptly closed their four stores, the fate of many of the bookselling staff largely went unnoticed. However, for several of the "Bibelot survivors," as one former staff member dubbed herself and her former co-workers, their love of bookselling remained strong. Five year later, four former Bibelot staff members own their own bookstores: Susan Weis of Breathe Books in Baltimore; Bonnie Scherr of Pages Bookstore also in Baltimore; Karin Anna of Looking Glass Bookstore in Portland, Oregon; and Mark High of Casco Bay Books in Portland, Maine.

After Bibelot, Susan Weis worked at a Baltimore Barnes & Noble before opening the 700-square-foot Breathe Books in October 2004. Breathe fills the first floor of a Victorian house with a wraparound purple porch. Inside the main room, painted in golden hues, fixtures are arranged according to the principles of feng shui. Owning Breathe has been "phenomenal," said Weis. "It's beyond my expectations, and my expectations were high. We're doing more than 20 events a month -- they're well attended and support is growing all the time. It's the greatest thing I've ever done."

While at Bibelot, Weis said she discovered how active the new age/alternative community was in Baltimore. And she learned how to run events well, a practice she continues in Breathe. "I also learned how not to run a bookstore," she said. "The number of returns [at Bibelot] was unbelievable." Weis said she gleaned a lot of helpful information from her time at B&N, including how to run a well-ordered backroom.

When Bibelot closed, Bonnie Scherr worked briefly at the same Barnes & Noble as Weis. Scherr wasn't happy at B&N and decided to launch her 1750-square-foot general bookstore in 2001 in the same Pikesville neighborhood where she had previously worked for Bibelot. Today, she sees many of the same customers.

Scherr loves owning a bookstore. "It's more work, but it's more satisfying," she said. She strives to build the type of bookstore-based community Bibelot inspired. Scherr said she always appreciated the attention paid to consumers there. "And more than that," she added, "they allowed [the staff] to pay attention to customers. There wasn't the corporate attitude of five minutes per customer and that's it." In part, Scherr noted, Bibelot's focus was about doing everything possible to encourage customers to return.

Karin Anna, a former buyer at Bibelot, purchased the nearly 30-year-old Looking Glass Bookstore in Portland, Oregon, from Bill Kloster and Katie Raditz in the summer of 2001. She moved across the country to assume ownership of the 2,500-square-foot store. Looking Glass stocks approximately 30,000 to 40,000 titles with an emphasis on nonfiction and strong sections of history, philosophy, and political science. "Another focus we're trying to increase," she said "is contemporary literature in translation."

Anna said that when she took over Looking Glass she was stepping into both a new bookstore and a new community. "There was a little transition, but I have a wonderful clientele that likes what we do." She also added frankly, "Needless to say, I don't have to tell you how difficult it is to be an independent bookstore."

The lesson she brought from her tenure at Bibelot was that "overextending yourself is a really dangerous thing." However, Anna noted that the community shaped at Bibelot was an essential goal for an independent bookstore, and that achieving that goal "involves having a sense of enthusiasm not just for books but ideas."

Mark High, who was part of the team of booksellers that helped launch Bibelot, left in 1998. He opened Casco Bay Books, a new and used bookstore/cafe, in December 2000. Between leaving Bibelot and opening his own store, High worked at Bookland of Maine in Portland. When Bookland of Maine was shutting down operations, High was developing plans for Casco Bay. "My family was happy in Maine, and we wanted to stay in the Portland area," explained High.

To keep Casco Bay competitive and engaged, High frequently changes the 1,800-square-foot store's offerings and events. "We now host monthly contemporary art exhibits, various live music events, lectures/panel discussions, etc.," he said. "We also house a vibrant cafe. Casco Bay Books is open every day 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Recently, we reconfigured the bookstore space to open Milo, a men's and women's clothing shop. The combined space presents a whole lot of interesting event and promotion opportunities. We've also recently developed a clothing line, which grew out of the store."

Like the others, High valued the way Bibelot was involved with its neighbors. "Words can't describe the degree to which Bibelot was connected to the Baltimore community," he said. Similarly, Casco Bay strives to "offer the type of place that encourages cultural and intellectual curiosity -- and a few surprises along the way." --Karen Schechner