Soft music plays

 

You're listening to Helen Frazer's capstone project, the future of independent bookstores.

 

My name is Helen and I'm a senior journalism student at Emerson College. For the past few months, I've been learning why independent bookstores are so important because for many people, these bookstores are more than just a place to buy your next read. Now, I've always loved books, so I was lucky to grow up with a father who loved reading. I was also lucky to grow up in Massachusetts where there was a plethora of bookstores for me to wander in. But my most special book memories happened right here in Boston. My first memory of an independent bookstore was when my dad took me to Brattle Bookshop and I found an old copy of Peter Pan.

 

Now, Brattle Bookstore is located in Downtown Crossing and is one of America's oldest and largest used bookshops. The Brattle features two floors of general used books, a third floor of rare antique books, and of course, an outside sale lot where you can get a book for as cheap as $1.

 

So in honor of my dad and our love for books, I've dedicated my senior capstone to indie bookstores, why they're important, why they're loved and why we should support them. When I first started this project, I knew I wanted to speak with booksellers. I wanted to know what made them like their job, I wanted to know why they chose it. I spoke with two friends, one who works at an independent bookstore, and another who works at the recently closed Prudential Center, Barnes and Noble.

 

Morgan Holly works at Porter square books in Cambridge and has been working there for about a year. And I asked Morgan what her favorite part of her job is, she said it was the interaction with the local community. Morgan told me that the community at Porter is very strong. She often recognizes the regulars who come in for books or come in for a little coffee and to chat. Now my friend who worked at the Barnes and Noble did not have the same feeling of a strong community.

 

Jake Albalate worked at the Prudential Barnes and Noble for three years and had mixed feelings about the store's closing. Now, Jake found out that the store was closing his store that he's worked out for three years through a text from a coworker, he did not find it out from his managers. Jake had taken some time off to write his senior thesis and missed the staff meeting where everyone was told about the closing. So if he had not spoken to his co worker the night before, he would have found out what the general public when Barnes and Noble Prudential made their social media announcement.

 

This honestly hurt his feelings. He felt very disrespected, especially having worked at that location for three years. So after losing his job at Barnes and Noble Jake began working out Brookline Booksmith. Brookline Booksmith is another independent bookstore located in Coolidge corner.

 

I asked Jake, what are the main differences he saw, because he had worked at this mega chain Barnes and Noble, who was a huge store. Now working at Brookline booksmith, which is a much smaller, independent bookstore. I wanted to know what the differences are. And Jake said that the main difference between the two was in regard to community. Now when he was at Barnes and Noble, he cannot remember the store hosting a single event whether that was a theme night, a book club and author reading, and working out Brookline Booksmith. He says that that is not the case. They are constantly hosting events, they actually have a very lengthy event page, where they do book signings, ribbon cutting ceremonies, book clubs, and Jake said that the independent bookstores are just they're involved with the community at a level that major bookstores simply can't be.

 

So since the community support and the community is such a huge reason why Jake and Morgan love their jobs. I asked the community why they choose independent bookstores. Since Boston is a huge city and I based my capstone in the city. I asked for college students who are attending college at Emerson. Why they choose to shop at independent bookstores when there are cheaper options.

Hi, I'm Sarah Schmidt. I am a junior, and I'm 20 years old.

Hi, my name is Mike. I'm currently 21 years old, and I'm a junior at Emerson.

Hi, I'm Bella. And I'm 18 years old,

and I'm from New York City. Hi, I'm Monica. I'm a freshman.

My favorite part about indie bookstores is probably the fact that it's kind of like a, like a stop to spend some time with people in kind of the community, other readers, this kind of this shared sense of what everybody's looking for there. And there's just a person ability to it that you don't get with bigger brands and corporations,

 

I love the charm. They just have like a very, like calming, like experience. And I feel like everybody who works there is just like, nice and clean.

It's more focused on, you know, giving back to the community sense of coziness. And the way that it supports authors, more local authors, like you're giving money back to probably like someone in your community that owns the bookstore, it's more personable, where like, you can go to a bookstore and get like an experience rather than just like, it being like a transactional action where it's like, you actually go for the experience, and you get something out of it as well.

There's a place called comic Opia on Commonwealth and it's super cozy, super small. And, yeah, just a great group of folks that work there and great community that I interact with there.

I went to Beacon Hill books most recently, and it's like stunning and the fact that it was a brownstone and it like was converted, and I haven't been to the cafe if it's open.

 

It's sometimes hard to not save the money when you see the opportunity. But if it means spending an extra dollar and giving that towards people running into the bookstore versus saving that dollar using it on Amazon, try out not saving that dollar I promise it goes a long way.

So it looks like independent bookstores are not going anywhere, anytime soon. The newest addition to Boston's independent bookstore community is Beacon Hill books located on Charles Street in Beacon Hill.

 

Now one of the reasons I think that Beacon Hill books was doing so well and it's only been opened a few months is because it gives the people an experience. The minute you're entering the bookstore, you're greeted by a beautiful staircase leading you to four floors of books. The bookstore is actually a converted brownstone. All the booksellers wear aprons and they're so friendly and ready to greet you. It honestly feels like you're stepping into a Hallmark movie.

 

Thank you so much for listening to my Emerson College capstone project the future of independent bookstores. If you'd like to learn more about indie bookstores, please visit my capstone website