Thursday, 08 August 2013 14:56

Books Back on Broadway

By Patricia Older | News

SARATOGA SPRINGS — With the steady influx of customers to the new bookstore in downtown Saratoga Springs, the much-anticipated opening of Northshire Bookstore did not disappoint the customers or the owners.

“These are not books, lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. From each of them goes out its own voice and just as the touch of a button on our set will fill the room with music, so by taking down one of these volumes and opening it, one can call into range the voice of a man far distant in time and space, and hear him speaking to us, mind to mind, heart to heart.” —Gilbert Highet

“We have had a wonderful three days—everyone has been buying books,” said general manager Nancy Scheemaker. “It is a fine beginning to what I think will be a long relationship.”

Northshire’s coming to the Spa City was not always on the owners’ radar. Ed and Barbara Morrow opened Northshire Bookstore 37 years ago in Manchester, Vermont. 

“We were New York [City] refugees,” explained Barbara. “We wanted to run our own business together, so for a couple of years we would load up the kids and take these weekend road trips and visit bookstores.” 

Those weekend road trips eventually led the family to Manchester Center, where they opened a 1,000 square-foot bookstore. While the store was on the first floor, the Morrows lived downstairs in the small, basement apartment. 

Much to the family’s delight, the bookstore was popular and word of mouth was making it a destination spot. But, as the shop grew, so did the inventory and the books began to take over their apartment. The couple decided to move the children’s section to the basement and they moved temporarily to an apartment nearby. 

They soon purchased a former inn and restaurant across the street from the bookstore and began the arduous task of renovating the place to house the bookstore. Once done, they moved the books across the street to the new bookstore. A few years later, they added an addition, doubling their bookstore space to 10,000 square feet. 

The design of the bookstore, both the one in Manchester and the new store in Saratoga, was always important to the Morrows. Their son, Chris, owns the Spa City bookstore. 

“We stress a number of things, like the ambiance,” said Rachel Person, who is in charge of public relations. “We put a lot of emphasis on look and feel. Selection, of course, is also very important. You can see that when browsing the shelves, there is a reader behind [every selection.] They are very carefully selected.”

The selection of books, though, noted Barbara, will tend to differ slightly between the Vermont location and the Saratoga store, giving credit of the quality and vast array of titles to long-time book buyer, Stan Hynds. 

“Saratoga is going to have its own flavor—the local history and culture,” explained Barbara. “We are eager to learn about our Saratoga audience and respond to their needs and issues.” 

Customer service is also important to the Northshire family, continued Rachel, who was introduced to the bookstore when as a child, her parents would take her to Manchester to visit the bookstore. 

“Hospitality is very important. We hire people who like being around other people and like talking about books and know books,” she noted. 

But, it was a Spa City resident’s actions that actually got the Morrows thinking that a second location would be a wonderful idea. 

After visiting the bookstore in Manchester, Saratogian Pat Friesen started a petition among her friends asking the Morrows to open a Northshire in the Spa City. 

“It was four pages long and she sent it to us,” said Barbara, noting that she felt honored that someone loved their store so much that they would actually take the effort to get together a petition and send it to them. That endeavor got them interested in finding out more about Saratoga Springs. 

The couple called Friesen and arranged a meeting. 

“We immediately got to meet a lot of people,” said Barbara. “We found Saratoga to be a very welcoming community.” 

As for e-books, Rachel said they did not see them as competition, but as an added benefit for the bookstore. 

“It is not an either, or choice but an and/and choice,” said Rachel, adding that the e-reader experience is very different from a print book. “We will be Kobo ready soon and readers will have a way to purchase their e-books with us as well.”

Scheemaker, who started working for Northshire in 1999, said she is excited about opening the new store on Broadway. 

“Northshire has been successful because the owners have been studying and they try to understand and respond to the readers needs and wants,” said Scheemaker. “The staff is also an important component—they help reshape and redesign; and they help people find things they might have known they were looking for. We know Saratoga Springs is a mecca for many reasons and people here like to shop. Clearly the community spoke and wanted another bookstore [on Broadway.] We are very happy to be here.”

Read 6550 times

Blotter

  • New York State Police The New York State Police announced that it issued 5,576 tickets during this year’s St. Patrick’s Day enforcement initiative. The campaign began on Friday, March 15, and continued until Sunday, March 17. During the campaign, funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, State Police utilized sobriety checkpoints, additional DWI patrols, and underage drinking and sales to minors detail. State Police also ticketed distracted drivers who use handheld electronic devices. State Troopers arrested 132 people for DWI and investigated 199 crashes, which resulted in 25 people being injured and no fatalities. As part of the enforcement, Troopers also…

Property Transactions

  • BALLSTON Heather DiCaprio sold property at 473 Garrett Rd to Justine Levine for $288,000 Sharon Willman sold property at 99 Jenkins Rd to Charles Lemley for $165,000 CORINTH George Montena sold property at 422 Oak St to Stephen James for $142,250 Mark Makler sold property at 313 Oak St to Sabrina Sinagra for $195,000 GREENFIELD Landlord Services of Upstate New York sold property at 1935 NYS Rt 9N to Cochise Properties LLC for $210,000 MALTA  Linda LaBarge sold property at 35 Snowberry Rd to Qu Haozheng for $270,000 Dennis Mitchell sold property at 60 Village Circle North to BGRS Relocation…
  • NYPA
  • Saratoga County Chamber
  • BBB Accredited Business
  • Discover Saratoga
  • Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association