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Bookselling News Staff -- 10/30/00
Centenarian Bookstores, Part IV Chautauqua Bookstore celebrates 126 years with educational community in southwestern New York The Chautauqua Bookstore, 1874 Chautauqua, N.Y. (716) 357-2151; bookstore.chautauqua-inst.org
The Chautauqua Bookstore--owned by the Chautauqua Institution--was founded in 1874, though early on the store didn't have four walls. "We have pictures of books being sold out of tents in the 1870s and 1880s," assistant manager/bookkeeper Donna Dominick told PW. An educational, lakeside community in southwestern New York, the store's parent Chautauqua Institution was founded in 1874 as a center for the arts, education, religion and education. Though programs continue year-round, the heart of the institution's activities take place during the nine-week summer season. "It's something of a little Victorian village, a gated community," said Ross MacKenzie, Chautauqua's historian. The 5,000-sq.-ft. bookstore serves the needs of the institution and year-round community (400-500 people). A nonprofit organization, the store stocks more than 10,000 titles, along with magazines, gifts and cards. Guests of the institution are the store's major clientele. During the summer, the 750-acre Chautauqua Institution attracts some 160,000 guests who come for its symphony, opera, chamber music, visual arts, dance and theater programs. There are special classes for young people, and over 2,000 events each season. Roughly a third of the store's sales are books, with the rest gifts and memorabilia. The store features a selection of taped lectures originally given at the institution by speakers such as Andrew Young and Roger Rosenblatt. (Many of the lectures have aired on NPR stations across the nation.) The institution has published a series of books on the institution and its history, which also sell well. The store gets over 2,000 customers a day during the peak summer months, when the institution's classes are in full swing. During this time, the bookstore employs a staff of 35 full- and part-time booksellers. Although the store originated as a book tent near the institution's auditorium in Miller Park, by 1879, the Assembly Herald had announced that the institution's Chautauqua Bookstore had opened under the management of H.H. Otis, and noted, "At the newsstand in the lower park may be found a choice assortment of books, religious and literary, as well as the prominent papers of the day. A dollar or two invested in good books is a judicious experiment. Let everybody buy a book." Over the next decade, the bookstore was housed in the old Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Building and Museum. By 1883 it had a $50,000 stock of books. In 1891, the store settled in the Chautauqua Institution's Arcade building, and then moved several more times until finding its permanent and current home in the basement of the town's post office in 1930. (Throughout the early part of the century, there had been branches of the bookstore in the institution's Athenaeum Hotel and on the second floor of Chautauqua's Colonnade Building.) The bookstore was renovated in 1974 and has been managed by Gail Whiteman since 1983. Whiteman hand-picks every title, and unless there's a special event, the store carries only one or two copies of each. The programs are always changing, so the inventory d s as well. "Next summer, for instance, we're having a week-long seminar on China. So the store will display books on Chinese p try, history, politics, etc. On the other hand, we also have an intellectual community here, and I always keep over 200 p try titles," Whiteman said. The store is particularly strong in the arts, education, current events, religion and philosophy. "We've also got a great children's selection," said Dominick. Founded by inventor Lewis Miller and Methodist minister John Veyl Vincent as an education experiment in vacation learning, the Institution and store are governed by a 24-member board of trustees. Over 8,000 students enroll in the Chautauqua Summer School programs. Along with the Athenaeum Hotel, Belliger Hall and the institution's 5,000-seat amphitheater, the Chautauqua Bookstore provides an educational, down-to-earth atmosphere for visitors. Like the parent institution, the bookstore was designed to create an atmosphere of the way America used to look. "The community makes us unique," explained bookseller Karen Christy. "The bookstore reflects our diversity and uniqueness." --John High Collect 'Em All! Booksmith Issues Author Trading Cards
"It's a significant milestone in the history of The Booksmith," the store's publicist and events coordinator Thomas Gladysz told PW. "We're really jazzed. These trading cards are promotional devices, much like cards in any sport. A lot of people who love them are actually collectors.." Book tours have long been a primary way for publishers--and authors--to sell books and spread the word for new titles. In the past decade the competition between the independents and chains has heated up the action. The book tour now contributes to a store's status as well--which store is the neighborhood's top dog? "Author readings are an essential element of making it as an independent," said Booksmith owner Gary Frank. "No doubt about it. Everyone knows the chains do it, but not as well we do. So it's not a luxury. We know our authors and our customers. It's a way we support the community and the community supports us." Gladysz is constantly brainstorming and trying new ideas. Three years ago, the store was a part of a virtual Web-ring author tours. Last year, the store started doing offsite events. This month, the Booksmith had Kazuo Ishiguro read from his new book, When We Were Orphans (Knopf) at the Park Branch Library and in November, Jeanette Winterson will be reading from The Powerbook (Knopf). The trading cards are produced by The Booksmith, one for each author event. The series started five years ago with little fanfare, but has since become a who's who of the famous and sometimes rich: Richard Avedon, Ray Bradbury, Anne Rice, Nobel-winning p t Czeslaw Milosz, rock star Marianne Faithful and Monty Python's Michael Palin are just a few of the featured authors. The store hosted Bachardy on October 16 for his new book, Stars in My Eyes (Univ. of Wisconsin), a collection of celebrity portraits, rendered in ink drawings and prose. Bachardy sketched the Hollywood elite he knew and lived among with his partner of 33 years, writer Christopher Isherwood. "We're honored that he's card 400," said Gladysz. "It was a special event. It's a very gossipy book, and it's selling well. Internet sales are tremendous." At this point, the cards are taking on a life and story of their own, according to Gladysz. The Wall Street Journal recently called to get copies. Customers order books and specifically request the trading cards. The time and place of the event is on every card, and trading cards are prominently promoted at the store's front counter. "Two of the authors from the set--Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg--have since died," Gladysz noted. "There's a history here." A handful of authors, such as Robert Owen Butler, have even asked to read at the store in order to be part of the author card's series. "Butler is a staunch non- sports card collector," Gladysz said. "That's why he wanted to read here." William Vollmann, who has read three times at The Booksmith, is well represented. Trading cards for Mickey Dolenz, formerly of The Monkees, have, unfortunately, sold out. "We even did a no-host author reading in which we had a Thomas Pynchon look-alike test," Gladysz said. "Staff and customers read from Mason & Dixon. Of course, no one knows what he really looks like. We found a collage photo online and doctored it for the card. It was a lot of fun and our customers loved it." With Jim Harrison, David Sedaris, children's author Philip Pullman and fantasy writer Robert Jordan scheduled for upcoming readings, more cards will be hot off the press soon. Frank said that his staff of 15 is always looking to find new ways to keep the independent bookstore thriving. "We're considering selling sets of the signed cards and giving the money to a charity," he said. "The independents have a strong life in San Francisco. We're feeling more secure now, and we're still growing. The future bodes well for us." --John High (Booksmith card #334)
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Bookselling News
Oct 30, 2000
A version of this article appeared in the 10/30/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline:
