Around Indies

Trident Booksellers and Café Celebrates 30 Years

For the past 30 years, Trident Booksellers and Café, on Boston’s Newbury Street, has “been providing the good people of Boston’s Back Bay with a relaxing place to browse a wide collection of books, while sitting down for a nice breakfast, lunch, or dinner,” Emerson College’s Emertainment Monthly reported.

The store, owned by Bernie and Gail Flynn, offers two floors of books, as well as stationery, small gifts, and knick-knacks, and is open from 8:00 a.m. to midnight. Its café menu consists of a wide range of food and drink options, including beers and wine.

In addition to hosting readings, book launches, cooking demos, trivia nights, and other events, Trident is able to accommodate private parties of 20 to 70 people seated and more than 100 people standing. Celebrations have included everything from birthday and graduation parties to wedding brunches and rehearsal dinners.

Frostburg’s Main Street Books Marks 25th Anniversary

Fred Powell, the founder of Main Street Books in Frostburg, Maryland, is inviting the community to the store’s 25th anniversary sale on Friday and Saturday, November 28 and 29. Customers will be treated to a 25 percent discount on book purchases while enjoying homemade cookies, coffee, and good conversation.

Main Street Books offers more than 20,000 titles, as well as cards, stationery, music, fair trade jewelry, and gifts, in 3,500 square feet of space, and it regularly hosts book group meetings, author readings, and book signings. It also serves as Frostburg’s box office for arts-related community events and is one of the organizers of the town’s annual Storybook Holiday, which takes over the downtown area with activities for all ages on the first Saturday in December.

“Due to the support of Frostburg and the surrounding area, Main Street Books has not only survived in the ever-changing and competitive world of books but thrived!” said Powell. “Main Street Books is thankful for its strong customer base that has been shopping our store for many years.”

Toadstool Responds to Cyber Monday With Cider Monday

Willard Williams, the owner of The Toadstool Bookshops, Keene, Milford, and Peterborough, New Hampshire, is once again inviting customers and other local merchants to take part in Cider Monday.

The fun and attention-grabbing celebration launched last year in New England as a direct response to Cyber Monday. On the Monday after Thanksgiving, this year December 1, customers are invited to stop at participating local stores for a warm welcome and a cup of delicious cider.

Williams explained further:

Shoppers are promised cider, smiling servers that will not crash, personal service and advice, the opportunity to touch and try before adding to the cart (err… armful), no logins or passwords, payment in cash if desired, and always free freight. Simply take your purchases home with you, no charge.

Locally owned stores everywhere are invited to join in this year’s celebrations.

RoscoeBooks to Open This Weekend

On Saturday, November 22, RoscoeBooks will celebrate its grand opening in Chicago’s Roscoe Village, a neighborhood offering an array of boutiques, restaurants, and shops. Erika VanDam is the owner of the new bookstore, whose inventory will be more than 30 percent children’s books and 70 percent “a well-chosen and ever-changing mix for adults,” Chicagoist reported. RoscoeBooks will also offer online ordering through an IndieCommerce website, and VanDam plans to host a full schedule of events and readings.

“We’re proud to join the small but vibrant handful of strong independent bookshops on the North Side,” VanDam told the paper.

Long Beach’s Open Bookstore to Re-Open in Book Bar

Sé Reed’s Open bookstore, which opened in 2003 in Long Beach, California, and closed in 2012, will re-open in the city’s first book bar, The Brass Lamp, the Long Beach Post reported.

Reed is partnering with local entrepreneur Samantha Argosino on the venture. Argosino plans to offer events, art, and music at The Brass Lamp and Open will be a part of that, but they will not be Open events, Reed said. “Open’s singular focus in The Brass Lamp will be the books, ‘presented as objects of literary art.’ The in-store selection will be heavily curated to fit the space, and there will be an online component for the books I can’t fit on the shelves,” she added.

Village Books/Paper Dreams Gives More than $16,000 to Teachers

Bellinghan, Washington’s Village Books and Paper Dreams is giving more than $16,000 in gift certificates to local teachers, the Bellingham Business Journal reported. Every teacher in Whatcom County will be receiving a $10 store gift certificate for their personal use during the 93rd celebration of American Education Week (November 17 to 21).

Store owners Chuck and Dee Robinson, who spent 10 years teaching and consulting in public schools, said in a release: “We know how hard teachers work and we’re really thankful for what they do. This is just a small token of our appreciation for folks who often are under-appreciated.”

breathe books to Close in Hampden, Focus to Be on Events at Mini Retreat Center

On December 31, Susan Weis-Bohlen will be closing breathe books in Hampden (Baltimore City, Maryland) to concentrate on classes and workshops at a mini retreat center at her new home in Reisterstown, Maryland. In the new space, which features a 600-square-foot teaching kitchen, she and others will offer vegetarian cooking classes, Ayurvedic consultations, mediation classes, and other events.

Weis-Bohlen also plans to keep alive her 10-year tradition of hosting and promoting larger off-site book events for mind/body/spirit authors.Vegetarian cookbook and life-style authors will be welcome at her home to offer demos, give talks, and do book signings. The space, which currently sits 40, will grow in the spring to accommodate about 70.

In August, Weis-Bohlen announced that she was looking for a buyer for breathe books café, but at the end of December the space will be taken over by the owners of Dangerously Delicious Pies.

A Room of One’s Own’s Torkildson Named “Exceptional Business Leader”

Sandi Torkildson, the longtime owner of A Room of One’s Own  in Madison, Wisconsin, was recently named one 10 “exceptional business leaders”  by Isthmus: The Paper, which noted that Torkildson is “a fixture in downtown Madison, serving on countless committees, mentoring young entrepreneurs, and fostering other small businesses.”

Three years ago, Torkildson moved A Room of One’s Own to a space previously occupied by Avol’s Books in order to grow the store’s inventory. Women’s studies, LGBT fiction, and nonfiction continue to be A Room of One’s Own’s hallmarks, the paper said, but it also now features Avol’s used book collection and general interest categories such as history, science fiction, sports, and children’s literature.

Santa Cruz’s Neal Coonerty Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award

On November 14, former ABA President and longtime owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz, Neal Coonerty was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce’s 126th Annual Community Gala and Awards Dinner.  

As a Santa Cruz City Council member and then mayor, Coonerty helped the city rebuild following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. In 2006, he turned over management of Bookshop Santa Cruz to his daughter, Casey Coonerty Protti, and won election to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, where he continues to serve. Coonerty plans to retire on January 5, 2015, and he will be replaced as a supervisor by his son, Ryan Coonerty, who won election to the seat in June.

Book Passage’s Calvin Crosby Joins McSweeney’s

Calvin Crosby, whose 21-year career as a bookseller has been split between California indies Books Inc. and Book Passage, has joined San Francisco-based McSweeney’s as sales and marketing manager. The 15-year-old magazine founded by Dave Eggers, which publishes new writing in a variety of forms, is transitioning to a nonprofit status.

Crosby is currently president of the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association and will continue to work part-time at Book Passage, helping with its extensive events programming.

As a nonprofit, McSweeney’s aims to sustain itself with the help of an expanded community of donors, writers, and readers while continuing to pursue a wide range of projects.