Independent Bookstores of New England Are Facing the Pandemic Head-On

By Tori Merkle

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected our world in innumerable ways, and independent bookstores have not been spared. On one hand, more people are staying in and reading. But closing doors for a few months has not been easy for all independent bookstores, many of which were already struggling to compete with major retailers.

Unfortunately, some treasured bookstores in New England have joined the large sum of small businesses that haven’t made it through. Sherman’s of Camden is among them, though they are relieved to leave behind another thriving bookstore, Owl & Turtle, which we have featured on Brilliant Light Publishing.

“Some of the towns, if we close, we would feel really bad because we believe in how important those bookstores are to the downtowns, and to the towns generally.” - Jeff Curtis, owner of Sherman’s Books & Stationary, on Penobscot Bay Pilot

We have also lost I AM Books, an Italian bookstore in Boston; Nubble Books in Biddeford, Maine; Book Outlet in North Hampton, New Hampshire; Annie’s Book Stop in Plainville, Massachusetts; and That Book Store in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

Though these closures are saddening, there have been some success stories. Frugal Bookstore, a black-owned bookstore in Boston, recovered from halted business thanks to a GoFundMe. Indie bookstores are also steadily fighting to stay in business, many of them now open with necessary adjustments and finding creative ways to operate in the era of Covid-19.

Many bookstores, for example, have created or amped up systems for remote orders. One such system is Bookshop, an online bookstore that supports indie bookstores by donating profits and enabling them to have their own online space. Along with increased online shopping comes increased online presence, and stores have taken that to heart, as well. They are becoming more active on social media and using newsletters like this one at Bartleby’s Wilmington and this one on at Bear Pond Books to provide regular updates and stay engaged with customers.

Author readings and book launches, too, have been altered to fit into our new reality. Independent bookstores are hosting these events online, and enabling online registration via Eventbrite, Crowdcast, Zoom, and other services. While these events won’t feel the same as seeing an author at your local bookstore, they do enable readers and fans to tune in from anywhere. Many virtual readings and talks are free to attend, and feature bestselling authors and exciting new indie books alike. These changes may actually boost event attendance, a win-win-win for authors, bookstores, and the readers that love them.  

Check out our Events page for some great options, or go to your favorite bookstore’s website and see what they have scheduled.

In addition to expanding their online presences, stores have instituted curbside pickup, shopping by appointment, and delivery to stay in business and help customers acquire much-needed quarantine reads. The upside to that? When you schedule a shopping appointment, you may have your favorite bookstore all to yourself for your allotted time. Even without appointments, limited store capacities offer a quiet, intimate atmosphere for you to browse and find your next read.

Stores have also recognized that the situation is a moving target: depending on how the pandemic evolves in their locale, stores have had to adjust their strategies. For example, Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Vermont instituted backdoor pickup, local delivery, and free shipping as needed. For a time, pickup orders were the best tactic, but as case numbers increased, delivery became the safer alternative. Throughout the entire process, stores like Bear Pond have been excellent at remaining adaptive and figuring out how to serve their communities of booklovers.

See this post here.

See this post here.

Now, as many stores are opening again, bookstores have come up with innovative ways to engage with their visitors safely in person. For example, Brookline Booksmith in Boston, MA has put a lot of effort into making in-person shopping a safe and enjoyable experience. They have created a window for book pickups and reworked the layout of their store to provide more space for their flow of customers. Red arrows on the floor indicate which way shoppers should walk down each aisle, reducing cramped spaces and close passes. Like many stores, the bookshop has also added stickers to designate where customers should stand in the checkout line.

Photo by Tori Merkle

Photo by Tori Merkle

Photo by Tori Merkle

Photo by Tori Merkle

As a successful and beloved independent bookstore in the heart of Coolidge Corner, Brookline Booksmith was fortunate to be able to take these safety precautions further by expanding their space. They acquired the vacated storefront nearby, which used to hold a Verizon store, and set up another wing. The door, on the other side of the Dependable Cleaners, is exit-only, creating a one-way flow of foot traffic through the store. They have moved their registers to the new space to reduce crowding around the store entrance, where the registers used to be. The old registers are now an information desk, where staff members greet customers and tell them about the changes to the store.

Photo by Tori MerklePreviously the checkout counter, this is now an information counter.

Photo by Tori Merkle

Previously the checkout counter, this is now an information counter.

Photo by Tori MerkleThe new wing, including new shelves and registers protected by plexiglass.

Photo by Tori Merkle

The new wing, including new shelves and registers protected by plexiglass.

Photo by Tori MerkleBrookline Booksmith expansion, outside view. Original store to the right of the cleaners, new wing to the left.

Photo by Tori Merkle

Brookline Booksmith expansion, outside view. Original store to the right of the cleaners, new wing to the left.

Though not all independent bookstores have the resources to do as much as this Boston favorite has, it is heartening to see how so many stores have adapted to fit the needs of this new “normal.” Bookstores have really connected with their communities and worked out new ways to stay operational—means of functioning that are now tested, improved upon, and in their toolkit, should there be a second or third wave that demands readjusting.

Maintaining Positive Mental Health During Strange Times

For those of us who are finding self-isolation and social distancing challenging to their mental well-being, we offer even more excellent books written by New England authors:

The Possibility Principle (Sounds True)

by Connecticut author and therapist, Mel Schwartz

 
 

Author, practicing psychotherapist, marriage counselor, speaker, corporate leadership and communications consultant, Mel Schwartz’s book, The Possibility Principle has broken new ground in illuminating the path to a more fulfilling life. His practice has embraced the emerging worldview of Quantum Physics, offering readers a revolutionary approach to integrating the core principles of quantum theory – inseparability, potentiality, and uncertainty. His writing and ideas are an accessible and practical method for personal empowerment.

Mel has jumped head first into the uncharted waters of human possibility, and surfaced with comprehensive tools to finding relief from personal suffering. He also has an excellent podcast to accompany his work and findings, and shares more practical and helpful tips. He invites listeners to contact him ahead of time with their challenges, and produces podcast episodes addressing them directly, using the concepts outlined in the book. He often invites a guest speaker as well. His latest episode: Staying Psychologically and Emotionally Resilient throughout This Pandemic is online now.

 

Forest Bathing Retreat: Find Wholeness in the Company of Trees (Storey Publishing)

by Massachusetts author, Hannah Fries

 
Hannah Fries.jpg
 

For those who are able to safely get themselves to the woods and nature, check out the suggestions found in Forest Bathing Retreat by New Hampshire native, (now settled in western Massachusetts) Hannah Fries. Spending time alone in the woods for meditation, inspiration and quiet time is nothing new, but recent scientific studies are finding this practice to have tremendous health benefits.

Many colorful forest photos are included in the book (and can be used as part of your quiet time if no woods are available to you) along with the author’s observations and guided mindfulness exercises. A curated selection of inspirational and cross-cultural writings round out a beautiful book offering the Japanese concept of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) as an invitation to you, to find fresh insights, inspiration, and well-being in the forest.

Hannah Fries is also an award-winning poet and editor and can be found online at, www.hannahfries.com.

 

Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection (Green Writers Press)

edited by James Crews, Preface by Ted Kooser

 

 
 

Continuing to shelter in place and self-isolate with Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection, edited by Vermont poet, James Crews, will keep you in a positive state of mind. This anthology was produced in order to move us past differences and closer to a united community: “what Dr. Martin Luther King called the “beloved community,” a place where we see each other as the neighbors we already are.”

Our current situation calls for honest heart-to-heart communication. Delivered in direct language from a poet’s pen, reading a poem or two daily from this collection will help calm the worry, and bring the focus back to humanity as family. Find inspiration and gratitude within the pages of this wonderful collection, as we ride this wave together. May we find relief in perpetual kindness!

Self-Isolate with a Good Book!

This is no joke. As the corona virus disrupts our towns and cities, voluntarily limiting our social interactions and self-isolation are the responsible thing to do. Protecting others, as well as ourselves from the virus is key to “flattening the curve” and not overwhelming medical resources.

In the last few weeks, many business and sports and entertainment events have been canceled, including poetry and author events. In its place, we suggest the company of an excellent book or collection of poetry written by a New England author!

 
 

New Hampshire author and mountain adventurer, Mark Synnott shares the incredible story of his fellow rock climbing friend, Alex Honnold, in his book The Impossible Climb (now in paperback from Dutton Publishing). The story centers around Alex’s astonishing free solo ascent of El Capitan's 3,000 feet of sheer granite:

Synnott's personal history of his own obsession with climbing since he was a teenager--through professional climbing triumphs and defeats, and the dilemmas they render--makes this a deeply reported, enchanting revelation about living life to the fullest.”

 
 

Extremely risky, yet skillfully present, Alex’s astounding climbing accomplishment might serve as inspiration for challenging times ahead. Mark’s account of the events and emotions involved in such an ambitious climb will take your mind off of current events, and hopefully inspire us all to make the most of the moment.

As the weeks unfold, it is certain we will be provided with even more opportunities to be supportive of our friends, family, and neighbors. Keeping in mind it is best to keep yourself at a safe distance, and to wash hands after public activities, maintaining a cheerful attitude is a must.

Soon to be published by Rootstock Publishing (May 2020), Vermont author and positive psychology teacher Ginny Sassaman’s new book, Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World arrives just in time:

“Creating thriving, peaceful, and content personal lives, while creating conditions for maximum well-being for all humans, animals, and the planet, requires soul-deep transformation. Through a series of secular sermons on a wide range of happiness skills, this book teaches and encourages that transformation.” 

 
 

Ginny Sassaman is a co-founder, past president, and advisory board member of Gross National Happiness USA, and the creator of the Happiness Paradigm. Visit her blog for more of her uplifting and informative reading. Booksellers and libraries can order book copies directly from Rootstock Publishing

And why not treat self-isolation at home as a retreat? Some might find this prospect as challenging as Alex’s climb, but Massachusett’s author (by way of Scotland) and playright, Christian McEwen’s book, World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down (Bauhan Publishing) suggests that quiet time and slowing down can open doors to sustained creativity. Over a period of ten years, she trained teachers to write their own poems as they passed the craft along to their students, and she continues to lead workshops on leading a slower, more present life:

 “World Enough & Time is aimed at the educated general reader, could be used as a creative primer, and will be of interest to creative writing students and artists in every genre.”

 
 

Her latest book, Legal Tender: Women & the Secret Life of Money was published in 2019. Read more on her website

For those craving even more adventure, without turning to Netflix, we suggest award-winning poet-naturalist and marine educator Elizabeth Bradfield’s new book, Toward Anarctica:

“documents and queries her work as a guide on ships in Antarctica, offering an incisive insider’s vision that challenges traditional tropes of The Last Continent.  Inspired by haibun, a form the 17th-century poetry Bashō invented to chronicle his journeys in remote Japan, Bradfield uses photographs, compressed prose, and short poems to examine our relationships to remoteness, discovery, expertise, awe, labor, temporary societies, tourism’s service economy, and “pure” landscapes. A complicated love letter, Toward Antarctica offers a unique view of one of the world’s most iconic wild places.”

 
 

However you choose to spend your time at home, please continue to take precautions and to take care of yourself in the process. The winter isolation many of us have already been experiencing may extend for at least a few more weeks. The days ahead could get weird, but with a calm mind and the perspective of others, provided through the eyes of a talented New England author and their latest books, you’ll pull through.

We invite you to have a look at even more author and book suggestions, listed in various categories in our “Recommended Poets/Writers” lists!