New Owners Step In to Keep Vital Part of the Community Alive

Jacqueline Kellachan’s love for community bookstores was the driving force behind her decision to operate one of her own.

This past summer, Kellachan, her husband, Paul McMenemy, and their three sons noticed the bookstore in their town of Woodstock, New York, was still for sale after months on the market. There were many factors that influenced the couple’s decision to buy The Golden Notebook, said Kellachan, but, ultimately, it came down to their wish to keep a vital part of the community alive.

“It was actually kind of an impulse decision,” she said. “We knew everyone was really hoping that someone would step up, and we saw it as a great thing that we could do for the community.”

Kellachan and McMenemy came forward just weeks before the store’s scheduled Labor Day closing to buy the business from Ellen Shapiro and Barry Samuels, who had run The Golden Notebook for 30 years as a general interest bookstore for children and adults.

Since becoming bookstore owners, the couple has taken the time to “spiff up the place,” said Kellachan. They have also built their inventory, updated the store’s logo, and moved the children’s section to the back of the store instead of housing it in a separate, adjoining location.

Overall, Kellachan and McMenemy have decided to maintain the vibe created by Shapiro and Samuels, but they plan to put more emphasis on the store’s strengths.

“We have such a great local history and so many local authors, so we really want to bring attention to that part of our store,” said Kellachan, who noted the town’s role in the origins of the Woodstock Festival and the many creative minds that have emerged from the area. “It’s just a wonderful, wonderful place,” she said.

Weekends bring a lot of traffic into Woodstock, both tourists and weekend residents, and Kellachan said that she looks forward to welcoming them into her store. The day before the Golden Notebook’s October 29 reopening, the couple hosted a kickoff event with local authors, poets, and actors.

Although McMenemy and Kellachan come from different backgrounds (he works in finance, and she held jobs as a public heath epidemiologist), bookstores have always played a huge role in their lives. When they lived in various parts of New York City, bookstores were always at the center of the community, said Kellachan, pointing to Shakespeare & Co. and St. Mark’s Bookshop.

“It’s going to be a huge learning curve, and I think it will be interesting to find out what it means to be a community bookstore today,” she said.

Kellachan is aware that the business model for independent bookstores has been changing in recent years and she noted that big box stores and e-books pose threats; however, she remains optimistic about the future of her store. Shortly after she purchased the Golden Notebook, Kellachan read an article in New York Magazine about the rise of independent bookstores.

“It was so encouraging to see that,” she said. “And I think there’s truth to it. There have been changes in the economy, and people want to do everything locally, and hopefully that will be the case with our store.”

Looking to the future, Kellachan plans to strengthen the store’s online presence and to book as many author events and activities for children and families as possible.

“We really just want to bring books to the community, and the community to books,” she said. “And this is our moment.”