"It's been so gratifying and exciting to have people come through the door after a year and a half of trying to pull this together," said Sarah Underhill, owner and designer of Periwinkle Books in downtown Bronxville, N.Y., just north of New York City.
Underhill and store manager Allison Devlin, lifelong friends who grew up in Bronxville, opened the bookstore on August 11, with a grand opening to come in late October. Located at 76 Pondfield Rd., Periwinkle Books has about 2,500 square feet of selling space and carries new titles for all ages. It features a combination of bestsellers, classics, and backlist, with a large children's section that includes a mural by local artist Meredith Hanson.
There are also home and garden, art and design, and food, wine, and travel sections with prominent displays, while nonbook offerings include baby and children's toys, paper goods, puzzles, games, and a variety of gifts. Devlin and Underhill have hosted author events both in-store and off-site at nearby Sarah Lawrence College, and they plan to expand the store's event program going forward.
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| Allison Devlin (l.) and Sarah Underhill | |
After about six weeks of sales, Devlin reported, the children's room has jumped out as a major draw, and kids' books constitute "by far the largest number of titles we sell every day." Bronxville has a K-12 school, lots of families, and a "cohort of doting grandparents," Underhill added.
After that comes adult fiction, particularly classics, followed by art books. Underhill noted that though they had been told art books were gift items that don't sell in large volume, the store's been "selling out of everything." She and Devlin attributed the section's success to giving it ample room at the front of the store.
The bookstore resides in the storefront that belonged to Womrath Bookshop, an indie bookstore that operated in Bronxville for more than 50 years, and closed in early 2025. With Periwinkle Bookshop, they are "continuing a long tradition of bookstores here," said Underhill, while also "reimagining what that's like." She and Devlin described the space as "warm and inviting" with "a little whimsy to it," designed for "people to gather and browse and wander in and have events."
Devlin and Underhill first talked about taking over Womrath Bookshop back in 2018, when the then-owners wanted to retire. "Things didn't pan out at that time and then Covid hit," Devlin recalled, but when the store became available last year, Underhill took over and started renovations. While those were underway, Underhill and Devlin attended Winter Institutes in Denver, Colo., and Pittsburgh, Pa., and learned as much about the business of bookselling as they could.
Prior to opening Periwinkle Books, both Underhill and Devlin had experience in publishing. While Underhill worked in "the production and design end of the business" after college before pursuing a master's degree, Devlin spent 35 years in the industry, mostly in marketing and sales. She was the sixth employee hired by DK when they opened the U.S. arm of their company, and she retired from corporate publishing in May. She "jumped right into the business of bookselling," she said.
For Devlin, being on this side of the business has been "absolutely fascinating," and after spending years trying to get books into stores, becoming "the gatekeeper of what comes in" has been "very powerful," she said, laughing. The experience has already "taught me a lot about discoverability" and emphasized the importance of handselling.
While the bookstore was being renovated, the storefront was "boarded up," and Bronxville residents didn't know what was replacing Womrath. When they learned it would be a bookstore, Underhill recalled, people were elated, and she's heard so many people say "Bronxville wouldn't be Bronxville without a bookstore."
Since the opening, the community has embraced the store, and the pair have loved seeing people browsing, sharing books with each other, and congregating in the space. "It's proving to be the kind of heart of the village we were really planning on," Underhill said. --Alex Mutter