The smell of old books is the first thing you notice when you enter Raven Used Books. Next is the sheer number of books in the shop, either piled from floor to ceiling or placed on tables and shelves, completely filling the space. Raven Used Books has the atmosphere of a bookstore that has lived for many years and seen many things.
Raven Used Books, open since 1993, has been run by the same woman, Betsy Frederick, for over 30 years. She has survived the arrival of Amazon, the introduction of Kindle and the launch of used online marketplaces like eBay and ThriftBooks. Frederick links the survival of the store to its location, downtown Northampton, amid the Five College Consortium.
“The people that tend to live around here like books and go to bookstores,” says Frederick. “We’re lucky.”
The Pioneer Valley is an excellent region for bookstores. The strong academic presence in the area combined with a strong literary culture makes the Valley a great place to open a bookstore. In Northampton, a city with a population totaling about 30,000, are four bookstores located within walking distance of each other.
However, other bookstores haven’t been so lucky. “When I first came to Amherst there were at least six bookstores,” said Amherst Books co-owner Shannon Ramsey. “But it’s changed a lot – it has whittled down to just us”.
Although post-pandemic trends have seen independent bookstores grow in popularity, online shopping will still make up a bulk of book sales. According to an article from the University of Michigan, in-store book profits are decreasing due to “competition from online retailers and an increasing popularity of e-books.”
If bookstores want to survive in an increasingly digital world, even bookish areas like Pioneer Valley, are finding ways to stay in business to avoid the possibility of closing down.
Some bookstores have direct relationships with the nearby colleges. The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley has a contract with Mount Holyoke College where they sell the school’s merchandise in exchange for a percentage of the sales. Since 1963, the Odyssey brings in more business when alumni come back to the town for reunions and other events in May.
But business is hard, even with cooperation from nearby colleges and universities. “There were many years that I lost money,” said Odyssey owner Joan Grenier, who inherited the shop from her father. “There were many years that I broke even, some years where I made a little bit, but people don’t realize how hard it is.”
The Odyssey has expanded its range of products in recent years to include stickers, cards, chocolate and other small gifts in an effort to adjust to new social media trends. Amherst Books has done the same with puzzles and art supplies. “We’re constantly evolving,” said Grenier.
The Odyssey holds over 125 events a year, including author signings and academic seminars. These events bring in more business and people than anything else, attracting people in the store who usually might not visit the store. According to Grenier, The Odyssey is more than a bookstore – it’s a community center.
The South Hadley bookstore has also incorporated a “First Edition Club,” which entails giving all 165 members a book each month to read. For a set price, community members can also join “The Gift of Reading,” a program that provides a monthly book tailored towards your child’s interest and age. Programs like these build stronger relationships between customers and the bookstore, bringing in that bit of extra money that small business owners could always use.
A well-organized and meticulously curated selection of books, especially in the realm of social justice, nonfiction and contemporary issues, also make The Odyssey a unique business. By having a specialized focus in one section, they brand themselves a certain way and bring in customers who mainly read in those sections.
“You kind of get a reputation,” said Grenier. It’s measures like these that keep a bookstore like The Odyssey open for more than 60 years.
Raven Used Books takes other measures to stay unique and get an edge. Most of its books are bought from other people and publisher overstock, which are cheaper than getting new books straight from publishers. “I’m getting books from someone’s attic a lot of the time,” said Frederick.
Raven Used Books also has a focus on scholarly writing, with large selections of philosophy, history, Eastern and Western religion, science and other academic areas, which cater to students and faculty at nearby universities and colleges.
Frederick emphasized that its location mainly keeps Raven Used Books open, as their spot right off of Northampton’s Main Street brings in people who might just be browsing but end up buying something.
What we bank on is people coming in looking for a book that we might not have, but then they see this one and go ‘oh,’ whereas online you just look for one book and that’s it,” said Frederick. “If we can get them in the door, then they’ll find something.”
Ramsey believes that independent bookstores have been going through a renaissance in recent years.“Folks have been feeling a renewed interest in downtown spaces. …I think we’re collectively feeling the loss of downtown spaces to big-box stores and to the internet, and so that interest has brought us back.”
Despite all the difficulties of running a small local business, owners of independent bookstores in the Valley don’t view each other as competition.
“We don’t consider ourselves competitors,” says Grenier. “We share information, and I think people who come from other kinds of work are really surprised of how cooperative we are.”
Francisco Aguirre-Ghiso can be reached at [email protected].
