By Alexandra Siegel
Boston has its share of large chain bookstores, but the Hub is also ridden with small, unique bookstores that give their communities character.
These hole-in-the-wall bookstores give consumers a quiet atmosphere to sit and read a book from an expansive variety. Perhaps the most familiar to college students in the area is the Trident Booksellers and Cafe located at 338 Newbury St.
The Trident’s inviting ambiance is what makes customers want to stay and read, said James Classey, a store employee.
“The atmosphere is great,” Classey said. “People hang out for hours.”
It’s not only the atmosphere of the bookstore that keeps people in Trident, but the eccentric cafe attached, said Classey.
“The cafe helps to keep the bookstore afloat. It’s symbiotic: you can eat and look at books,” he said.
Although the cafe is a successful way to bring in and keep Trident customers, it’s similar to the attached bookstore and cafe concept that Barnes & Noble and Borders have adopted.
“[Smaller stores] are an alternative to bigger chains. There’s variety. Individual bookstores give a place character,” Classey said. “You can go to a different state and go to Barnes & Noble and it feels like you could be anywhere. But there’s only one Trident.”
Another small bookstore that emanates character into the surrounding neighborhood is Commonwealth Books, located at 7 Spring Lane near Downtown Crossing.
A sign that hangs off the main street reads: “Used, Scarce and New. Commonwealth Books and Old Prints, Browsers Welcome,” and an arrow points towards the Spring Lane’s narrow cobblestone path.
Inside the store there are big leather armchairs, a fake fireplace and a cat that sleeps on a cushion next to an old typewriter in the window.
“I love the atmosphere here,” said Douglas Sabbag, a part-time sailor and Commonwealth customer. “It makes me want to stay and read.”
One of the most well known used bookstores in the Boston area is Brattle Book Shop, located at 9 West St. in the Theater District. The store’s pamphlet tells the story of Brattle: A family-operated used, rare and antiquarian bookstore that has been around since 1825.
“We are one of the largest and oldest bookstores in the Boston area,” store manager Nicole Reiss said.
When the bookstore was burnt to the ground and the inventory destroyed in 1980, the community helped to build up the store’s collection once again through donations and support.
The empty lot where the old Brattle once stood is now where the book shop sets up carts of used books everyday for prices between $1 and $5. Every free space is filled with a bookshelf.
“It’s a treasure hunt,” local and frequent customer of Brattle, David Kinsley, said. “You never know what you’re going to find.”
Unique jewels, including a worn and yellowing collection of Robert Brown’s poetry from 1835 or two bookcases of writings about Abraham Lincoln can be found in Brattle.
“Small bookstores make knowledge as accessible as possible. It’s good discipline to read something on paper, not just going screen to screen,” said customer and book dealer Harvey Mendelsohn.
It’s this hands-on approach that make customers like Mendelsohn appreciate coming to used bookstores more than going on websites like Amazon.com or eBay and in terms of big-name chain bookstores, Reiss isn’t worried.
“We don’t compete with them because we deal in used, rare and antiquarian books which they don’t have,” Reiss said. “We would be happy if a Borders or Barnes & Noble moved next door because then people would come right here if they couldn’t find anything.”
Reiss said people value small bookstores versus big bookstores.
“You can give a quality service with a knowledgeable staff,” she said. “We appreciate our regular customers. We treat a person buying a $1 book the same as someone buying a $100,000 book.”
