Bunch of Grapes is Back

by Judith Rosen -- Publishers Weekly, 6/11/2009 7:13:00 AM

 After being gutted by a fire last year on the Fourth of July, Bunch of Grapes Bookstore is scheduled to reopen with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday morning at the Main Street location in Vineyard Haven, Mass., that has been home to a bookstore on Martha’s Vineyard for the past 45 years. In the intervening months the bookstore has changed hands and is now owned by its former events coordinator, Dawn Braasch, who kept it going at a temporary site nearby.

The new Bunch of Grapes has been reconfigured with taller bookcases that create isles of privacy and rattan and leather chairs with personal reading lamps to encourage browsing. The children’s section has been expanded and the magazine section has been moved to make space for horror and science fiction. Even the logo got a makeover.

“It is still hopefully a place you want to stay and linger,” said Braasch, who notes that most of the changes, like the new track lighting, are cosmetic. The heart of the bookstore, she promises, remains the same. Four employees have stayed on, and the reopened store will honor book club cards and gift certificates from the previous owners.

As in years past, Bunch of Grapes will maintain an active signing schedule during the summer months. Events will get into full swing closer to the grand re-opening on July 4th. Among those who will appear at the store are: David Kinney, author of The Big One; Ward Just, author of Exiles in the Garden; and Elizabeth Hawes, author of Camus: A Romance.