New Canaan Welcomes New Bookstore on Elm Street

Farley Kern, an owner and founder of Elm Street Books in New Canaan, Connecticut, must not waste much time sleeping or eating. Otherwise, she and her staff could not possibly have started up a brand new bookstore, directly across from the town's train station, in a mere seven weeks.

After acquiring the unfinished storefront at the end of September, the Florida native oversaw the construction of the 3,700-square-foot space beginning October 1, and the new store was open for business on November 15. The grand opening was held on November 23.

Kern also moves at warp speed through cyberspace -- Elm Street Books is working closely with BookSense.com and plans to go live online in about a week.

Elm Street Books has a staff of 18 mostly part-timers and has also received some unsolicited, but much appreciated, help from volunteers in the community.

New Canaan, with a population of about 18,000, illustrates the phrase "charming, New England town." The two shopping streets, Main Street and Elm Street, offer small gift, jewelry, and antique shops along with an independent video store and an independent music shop.

Kern, speaking to BTW from the busy store, said, "After looking for a location over the past year, I saw that this was a community that could support a bookstore. The New Canaan Book Shop, [located in a different location on Elm Street], which closed in the spring, had a very loyal following. People in the town saw the bookstore as a gathering place, something that was important to the atmosphere of the town. We've had volunteers shelving books and putting information into our computer system."

Using words like "phenomenal" and "stunned," Kern is clearly enjoying her first venture in bookselling. "Before running a single ad, we have been so incredibly busy. This is an affluent and sophisticated community. We are selling a whole lot of literary fiction, biographies, interesting current events titles, and many art and decorating books."

Kern anticipates that Book Sense titles will play an important role in the store's book buying. She also looks forward to the BookSense.com Web site to add "extra convenience to shoppers and another way to make recommendations. We can use it to express the store's personality and let people know that we can get them books whenever and where ever they want them." -- Nomi Schwartz