Once again, New Canaan, Conn., will have an independent bookstore of its own, thanks to a group of area investors. Since the closing of the New Canaan Book Shop by owner Marguerite Whitney last spring (Bookselling, May 13, 2001), there has been no general independent bookstore downtown. Locals who want to support an independent have had to travel to Whitney's remaining store, The Hickory Stick in Washington Depot, or to Just Books in Greenwich.
"Everybody in the town has been incredibly welcoming and supportive," said investor Farley Kern, who recently relocated from Florida to manage the soon-to-open Elm Street Books. "I think it's wonderful that the town wants to have an independent bookstore," she added, noting that a number of local professionals have provided services at reduced rates or on a pro bono basis.
Elm Street Books will open later this month in a 3,600-square-foot space in the newly constructed building across from the train station. It is just a few blocks down from the site of the previous store and, according to Kern, will hire as many former New Canaan Book Shop booksellers, who lost their jobs when the store closed, as possible. In describing Elm Street, Kern noted, "It will have a larger children's section than the New Canaan Book Shop. We want to do travel very well, and literary fiction. We will have a big selection of cards and gifts, while still remaining very much a bookstore."
For now, Kern's primary goal is to get Elm Street open in time for the Christmas selling season, and she plans to begin booking an active author events schedule in the weeks to come.
