Roundabout Books Owner Purchases Boswell's Books in Mass.

Raymond Neal, owner of Roundabout Books, Greenfield, Mass., is buying Boswell's Books in Shelburne Falls, effective December 31. The Greenfield Recorder reported that Ken and Nancy Eisenstein, who purchased Boswell's Books 10 years ago as a retirement project, "will be retiring a second time as they look to spend more time with their family. They say they will continue to visit the store and the eponymous cat, Boswell, who will remain at Boswell's Books."

"We're in our 70s," Ken Eisenstein said. "It gets harder every year to be schlepping boxes.... I don't know what we would have done if we hadn't found Raymond, We'd probably still be owning the store."

The Eisensteins, who have known Neal since he opened Roundabout Books around the time they bought Boswell's, described him as the perfect candidate to own the store because he knows the bookselling industry.

"We didn't want someone coming in saying, 'Hey I've always wanted to own a bookstore, but I don't know anything about it,' " Nancy Eisenstein said. "We've known Raymond for almost 10 years now. We kind of came into the business around the same time and we kind of grew up together in the book business."

Neal said he never had plans to purchase the store: "It was only when Ken and Nancy approached me. I did not think that it would be something we would do. I'm delighted about it."

Beyond bolstering the collection at Boswell's with books from Roundabout, Neal said changes at Boswell's will be minimal. He "envisions adding streamlined online ordering and in-store pickup options, but staff and day-to-day operations will be the same. Maria Uprichard, the current manager, will continue to help run the store," the Recorder noted.

"The well of books is the biggest thing I can offer," Neal said, "but it is the case it will have some sophisticated in-store pickup and shipping options and things like that."

Nancy Eisenstein added: "He's going to bring Boswell's into the 21st century. We have been steadfastly rooted in the 20th-century model. For example, during the pandemic, if we had online ordering, we would have done much better. We just didn't have the capacity for it."

While the Covid-19 pandemic has made business tough, Neal thinks he can have a unique pipeline of customers and books between the two stores as business continues to pick up: "It's been such a challenging year and a half. Ken and Nancy coming to me was such a bright spot. I think our staff are excited about it, too. It's going to be a really cool connection."

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