Massachusetts' Booksmiths Continue Their Winning Ways

During its 44 years, Brookline Booksmith has received its share of accolades from loyal customers and from the industry at large. Offspring Wellesley Booksmith, which opened in 1999, has also won its share of recognition. Recently, each Booksmith received another honor: Wellesley Booksmith was named "Retailer of the Year" by the Wellesley Chamber of Commerce, and Boston magazine named Brookline Booksmith "Best Bookstore" for the third time.

Dana Brigham, co-owner and general manager of the Brookline store, speculated the stores' consistent award winning is based on "luck, visibility, and excellence in service, style, and events."

Brookline Booksmith was founded in October 1961 by Marshall Smith. The original store was on the same street as the current 4,000-square-foot location. Smith, who is still active in store operations, hired Brigham in 1981. "I was the quintessential English major who got a teaching degree and then didn't want to teach and became a part-time bookseller," Brigham told BTW. "I worked at Brentano's and then Marshall hired me to manage the store. After five years, an opportunity came up for me to buy some stock in the company."

Evelyn Vigo, another co-owner, has been with the bookstore since one month after Brookline Booksmith's opening.

The Wellesley location sells only new books, but Brookline sells new titles on the main floor and used downstairs in a 600-square-foot space. At Brookline, there's another small room devoted to sidelines and gifts. "We carry everything from an action-figure librarian to picture frames," said Brigham. Many of the store's top sellers come from a Seattle-based company Accoutrements, including the librarian doll (modeled after Nancy Pearl, a Seattle librarian), a plastic mini pig catapult, and the "Chicken Chucker."

Asked why she thought the 3,000-square-foot Wellesley location won the title of "Retailer of the Year," Brigham said, "When we opened, we wanted to be a bookstore very involved in the community. The book buyers and manager did a great job of doing that, working with schools ... so the store got a lot of visibility very quickly -- and the bookstore has excellent service."

Both stores became a part of Book Sense when it first launched in 1999, and both joined the Book Sense Gift Card Program this past holiday season. "I wish we'd done it sooner," said Brigham, who estimated that the stores were selling gift cards at three times the rate of certificates. The Book Sense Picks are displayed face-out in a bookshelf at the front of the store with laminated shelf-talkers.

Brookline has an extensive events calendar, featuring about 150 events a year. "We do big names when we can get them, but we also love to [feature] local authors and offbeat nonfiction," said Brigham. "We recently had Mitchell Zuckoff, a Boston Globe reporter, who wrote Ponzi's Scheme.... We've also had Jonathan Lethem, and coming up is Alice Hoffman."

Smith credits Brigham for developing the very active author series. "She really promoted our author appearances program, which we had previously done only occasionally. Now we do two to three a week, and it's been very successful. The community really likes it."

Brigham said that the bookstores have had more to celebrate than their community popularity and various awards. They've not only been getting love, but inspiring some, too. She reported that among staff, "we've had nine marriages and three babies." And that's not counting the couples who have met browsing the shelves. "I think it speaks well of our good work environment. We try to be enlightened," she said. --Karen Schechner