A map of lost bookstores
Shortly after moving to Cambridge, one of my first excursions around town was a bookstore tour. During that excursion, I picked up two free guides: a map of used bookstores in downtown Boston and the Back Bay and a bookstore guide by the Cambridge Office of Tourism. Being the hopeless ephemera collector (and general paper packrat) that I am, I still have those guides…but looking at them now I realize that they are almost useless. Most of the places on those guides, including the place where I picked them up, have moved, have closed, or are on the verge of closing.Earlier this year, there was the news about Grolier Book Shop and its financial troubles. Although, in hopes of saving enough money to rent an apartment like a real adult, I have stopped buying books, I decided to break my spending ban. Recently, I used some of my vacation hours to spend time at Grolier, browsing the walls of poetry books and visiting with the clearly dispirited shopkeeper. I bought three books that day–not much help to a failing bookstore, I know, but the best I could do.
Last night, I learned that Avenue Victor Hugo is closing [via Lis Riba and Desultor]. It was painful to read the closing announcement on the store’s website. John Usher’s “Twelve Reasons for Death of Small and Independent Bookstores” was particularly painful to read because it is true.
When I first visited Cambridge as a prospective graduate student, I hated Cambridge and Harvard; I knew that would most likely be miserable, lonely, and unhappy here. But, then I heard (or perhaps, read) that Cambridge had more bookstores per capita than any other place, and I had a change of heart (since being miserable and lonely with a good book is not so bad).
Now, several years later, I feel betrayed. The Cambridge/Boston area may have more than its share of bookstores, but if the bookstores are just the ones with bright, shiny, candy-colored books, pre-packaged marketing, and salespeople who rely on databases rather than knowledge and experience, how meaningful is that?
A few links to help you find (and support) independent bookstores:
- Independent bookstores in Massachusetts (by newpages)
- Booksense (network of independent booksellers)
- Bookstores in Cambridge/Boston (originally maintained by Nichael Kramer for the rec.arts.books Usenet group; now maintained by Evelyn Leeper)
2 comments March 20th, 2004