It’s been almost seven years since Belmont, a primarily residential Boston suburb, had a general interest bookstore. But bookseller and author Chris Abouzeit (Anatopsis), who works at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, and his wife Kathy Crowley, a physician at Boston Medical Center and an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, are planning to change that.
Early next year Abouzeit and Crowley will open Belmont Books, a 4,000 sq. ft. bookstore, in a building that is currently under renovation in Belmont center. Given Abouzeit’s background writing young adult fantasy, and the fact that Crowley is currently working on a mystery novel, the store will have a strong children’s, science fiction and fantasy, and mystery sections. The store will also carry bestsellers, classics, and cookbooks, among other book sections, along with cards, games, and gifts. In addition, it will have a coffee shop that serves pastries and lunch.
In a q-and-a on Belmont Books’s newly launched website, Abouzeit and Crowley describe the bookstore as: “A full service, floor to ceiling, astonishingly warm and cozy general bookstore featuring everything from My Struggle #45 to Fodor’s Game of Thrones Travel Guide. (Actually, probably not those. But pretty much everything else.)”
The last general bookstore in Belmont was Charlesbank Bookshop, part of the B. Dalton division of Barnes & Noble. It closed in December 2009.
