River Bend Bookshop opened last month at 2217 Main St. in Glastonbury, Conn. The Hartford Courant reported that the new business is "an almost step-back-in-time bookshop complete with a bell on the door that announces customers. Hundreds of books line shelves along with items made by area artisans."
"Why I would do a crazy thing like this?" asked owner Meghan Hayden, anticipating the question that might be on some people's minds: "That's all right. It's something I really believe in."
For the past six years, she has been a United Way volunteer reader, working with a first or second grader falling behind grade level reading. "The idea is you'll be one more adult in their life that cares about reading, that gets them excited about it and that celebrates them as they make progress," she said, adding: "Mostly it is joy because kids open up to you so quickly. They know right away that you are their person and they look forward to you coming in. I wanted more of that in my life."
River Bend Bookshop is the result. Hayden said that in addition to a well-curated selection of adult titles, she wanted to make the children's room warm and inviting and specialize in a diversity of stories with new titles and authors: "While we carry all the classics you would expect to see, we have a lot of books you really wouldn't find in other places. We wanted it to be representative of the world we live in.... We don't want to beat you over the head with issues, but we want to have kids use books as both mirrors and windows, so they can see themselves in the story and in the world around them."
Hayden added that "people who care about books and people who care about sharing stories have a good way of finding each other. It didn't take too long for people to start coming through the door.... River Bend and the indie bookstores can do all the things that big guys can do. We can order books. We can do audio books and e-books. We can also do tons of things that Amazon can never do like know your kids' names and what number series they are on and which series they are going to like next."
On the bookshop's Facebook page, she recently posted: "Feeling lucky to walk through this beautiful front door every morning. Join me for a few minutes of indulging curiosity, discovering new favorites and connecting with your neighbors. I will be here all day!"