When Mark Fowler and Jessica Kaplan open Bronx River Books in mid-September, Scarsdale, N.Y., will have an independent bookstore for the first time in seven years. The roughly 1,200-square-foot store will sell all new titles for children, teens and adults.
According to Fowler, about a third of the store will be devoted to children's and young adult titles, and while the store will sell books across a variety of genres, the adult inventory will emphasize fiction, history and contemporary affairs. Their plans for sidelines include a limited selection of items that are very much book- and writing-related, including Out of Print T-shirts, diaries and journals. He added that he and Kaplan have no plans to sell toys, games or "things without any connection to books."
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| Bronx River Books in progress | |
The store has no plans for a cafe or food component. Fowler pointed out that there is no shortage of places in the neighborhood where one can find a good cup of coffee. "They don't really need us [to sell coffee] in Scarsdale," Fowler said. He added, drily: "The hope is they do need us to sell a few books."
While the pair has no experience in bookselling, both Fowler and Kaplan have had long connections with books. Kaplan was a teacher for many years, at the Greenwich Academy and the French American School, and she's been "involved with children's literature for a long, long time." Fowler, meanwhile, authored a number of humor books "once upon a time" before becoming a lawyer; he's spent the past several decades representing book, magazine and newspaper publishers. Fowler added, too, that indie bookstores are "among the places that we've loved most in the world."
Fowler reported that he and Kaplan had thought about opening a bookstore of their own for years. They discussed it in earnest around seven or eight years ago, when the owner of Reading, Writing and Wrapping, Scarsdale's previous independent bookstore, started talking about retirement. Back then, the timing just didn't make sense, but over the last 18 months or so, Fowler continued, he and Kaplan began more seriously to consider launching their own store, particularly because Scarsdale has been without a new indie bookstore for so long.
"It's our first venture into running a bookstore," said Fowler. "It's been an eye-opener."
The store's first officially scheduled author event is slated for November 16, when local poet Sally Bliumis-Dunn will visit. Fowler said that he and Kaplan have talked to a lot of local authors about scheduling events, and it is "very much our plan" for the store to host events in partnership with local cultural organizations. Every fixture in the store, except for the shelves along the walls, is on wheels and can be easily rearranged; Fowler estimated that they will be able to seat around 30 people for an event. Kaplan is particularly interested in starting reading groups and holding storytime events, and Foster said there has been a "strong degree of interest" on that front from young parents.
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Jessica Kaplan surrounded by boxes of books yet to be unpacked. |
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With a "gentle opening" set for September and a more formal celebration expected to follow in October, Fowler and Kaplan are unpacking boxes and boxes of books. Whenever they're in the store, they've had an open door policy, and Fowler said lots of people have been stopping by to say hello. More broadly, the community's response has been "amazing." Earlier in the summer, while their storefront was under construction and a street fair was underway on their block, they sat outside the store to greet community members and were met with a lot of enthusiasm.
Fowler said it seemed that a lot of the community missed having a bookstore and shoppers were very sympathetic to the notion of an independent store in particular. --Alex Mutter