Booklink Booksellers

When I finished grad school in 1983 in Southern California, all of my family was living in New York City, and they convinced me to move out there. Knowing I had a passion for books, they encouraged me to start looking for a small bookshop to run. I had graduated with an MBA and was working in the corporate world for some time, but soon realized it was not for me. In 1985, I started my first bookstore, then moved on to owning my second and third in 1990 and 1992, respectively.

My wife and I would often vacation in this area, as we love to play tennis, and Williston has an amazing tennis camp. We would spend a couple of weeks each summer here, and quickly came to appreciate the Valley. At some point, I started looking into the possibility of moving the family here from NYC and starting another bookshop in the area. I knew there were many bookshops around, but was especially focused on finding a space in Thornes, where there were no bookstores at the time. I spoke to Brinkley Thorne and let him know I was interested in opening a store in the building. He offered me a basement or third floor space, which didn’t appeal to me, but I gave him my card and asked him to keep me in mind if anything else became available in the future.

A couple of years later, the space that A2Z used to occupy became an option and I agreed to sign a 5-year lease. We sold our house and moved our entire family out here. Then, when the second floor space above my shop became available, I decided that I would open up the ceiling and have a stairway built between the two levels to expand the business. The stairs and shelving had to be constructed at night so as not to disrupt the rest of the building during the day. The expansion to the 2nd floor, while challenging, was worth it for us. After all, you can never have too much space or shelving for books.

At the time, I continued to operate all four locations, commuting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to NYC to check on the other shops. Eventually, after 12 ½ years of traveling back and forth, I realized I just couldn’t do it anymore, so I shut down my operation in NYC and decided to focus all of my energy here. Thornes has been an ideal location for us. We love how supportive the community has been—people are really committed to uplifting small, indie bookstores here. We also appreciate the mutual relationships we’ve cultivated with other Northampton bookstores, referring people back and forth and championing each other.

Thornes has been very supportive in so many ways, and we appreciate the strong community here. One of the best things about being in this building is having a sense of security and safety. Should you need anything, you can pick up a walkie-talkie and someone is less than two minutes away to assist you. On the street, you don’t have that same level of support or security. Management is wonderful—they go out of their way for us and help us out  in marketing efforts. I also love having neighbors so close and getting to collaborate in a variety of ways.

Thornes is such a special New England building. As a Yale architect, Brinkley Thorne had the vision to transform the building from a department store into a unique marketplace with boutique shops. It’s wonderful to have the bridge that connects to and from the parking garage, so that people can easily enter and exit the building. This is especially important in the harsh winters when people don’t want to have to deal with the snow. I love that visitors can shop for so many things under one roof.

Before Covid, we had events on a regular basis, especially for featuring local authors. We had two couches upstairs where we would host our readings. We are now beginning to consider restarting these events, and a few people have reached out to us about doing readings. Not too long ago, we were approached by a friend of mine who is a Smith professor and asked if we would participate in a book signing for Cady Coleman, an astronaut who lives in the area. She was having a gathering at Smith for her book, “Sharing Space,” so we transported 150 books to the auditorium. There was a great turnout of around 300 people, and we did really well with sales that day.

I think as we ease back into hosting some events, we’ll start out with a Sunday children’s hour—we’re all excited about doing something along those lines.

I love playing and watching tennis, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to play lately due to some injuries. My wife and I love to travel, particularly to Greece, and we go whenever we can. My grandmother was from Crete, so it’s always been a special place for me. As of now, I’ve visited about 40 Greek islands. It’s just a breathtaking place in the summer. I was actually just there a couple of months ago and had the chance to visit Leonard Cohen’s former home on the island of Hydra.

I also enjoy playing music with my family when we’re together; we taught our kids to play when they were growing up. They have both remained musical—one studied music in college, then moved to New Orleans to become a jazz musician and the other is a musician on the side.

I have to give so much credit to my team at the bookstore. They are all very passionate about both the written and spoken word, and they are committed to keeping this business alive and thriving. I love having opportunities to put their knowledge and skills to use. Whenever we have catalogs come in, I have them go through each one to highlight both what they like and what they think our customers will like. We work well together and are all dedicated to the store.