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| Roundabout Books in progress. | |
Roundabout Books, a new and used bookstore in Greenfield, Mass., will hold a grand reopening celebration November 4 and 5 at 85 Pierce St., with music, food, magic and tens of thousands of books. The Recorder reported that owner Raymond Neal will be "opening the doors to the public to show off his new location, with at least 20,000 volumes on two floors of salvaged steel library shelves in a sprawling space that maintains its proud industrial aura."
"I mean, this is going to be one of the biggest bookstores in New England," Neal said. "I think people will be into it. And we have really good books."
Neal purchased the farmhouse-style building in July 2021. He started Roundabout Books on Kenwood Street in 2012 after years of working as a teacher. He has also owned Boswell's Books in Shelburne Falls since last year. The Recorder noted that the two-floor Pierce Street building "spans 10,000 square feet, with 6,000 square feet of browsing space. Neal said he carries every genre conceivable, and his employees are spending their days sorting enormous quantities of books." The new store will also have a dedicated children's section, which Neal said typically brings in about 50% of a bookstore's revenue.
He added that he hopes his customers become pleasantly overwhelmed, getting nearly lost in a large number of books that are well organized: "That's a big part of what a used-book person finds joyful, certainly for me. I've gotten that. That's been reinforced by our customers. I think the actual physical environment is actually appealing, too."