Great Bookstores?

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Great Bookstores?

1dancingstarfish
Sept. 7, 2009, 3:24 pm

I took a little trip to visit the montague book mill today which was great!

I was wondering if anyone knows of other fun/interesting/wonderful bookstores around new england?

2avaland
Sept. 8, 2009, 10:41 pm

We did Montague a few weeks ago. I can't say it was a mistake as we bought a lot of books, but it was 90º & humid and they didn't even have a fan running!

There's a great old barn full of books in Henniker, New Hampshire. Two floors (the books go up about 14 ft. on the upper floor). To find the bathroom among the bookshelves and alleys there, one has to follow the pink string . . .
Old #6 Book Depot or something like that. It's listed here in LT (I should remember as I'm the one that entered the venue:-) There are a couple others in the area if you are making the drive. One small used bookshop on the way up in Weare, another just beyond and to the East of the Book Depot, and Books-By-the-Lake is in Bradford across Route 9 and a few miles north. There is also a nice restaurant with a river view in Henniker center. In the fall it's awfully pretty up there.

3Larxol
Sept. 9, 2009, 9:08 am

If you're in Henniker in the late winter, don't miss the breakfast at the pancake house at the foot of Pat's Peak ski area. Fresh maple syrup boiling up next to the dining room...

4avaland
Sept. 18, 2009, 1:13 pm

>3 Larxol: That sounds great, I'll have to remember it. Is it open off-season? And is the food any good generally?

5dancingstarfish
Sept. 18, 2009, 11:19 pm

oooooo that sounds yum!

6Amniot
Aug. 4, 2010, 7:00 pm

Ben Franklin Bookstore in downtown Worcester, MA. Huge collection of rare/used books. On Salem St., across from the public library. Stop by The Library Bookstore in the library while you're there!

7avaland
Aug. 16, 2010, 8:56 pm

>6 Amniot: I thought that closed some years back... (I have been to both!)

8Amniot
Aug. 17, 2010, 7:46 pm

>7 avaland: No, it's still there, AKA Ben Franklin Bookstore and Worcester Antiquarian something-something. I've driven by within the last couple of weeks and just Googled up a website with store hours. The owner isn't getting any younger, but he's still there whenever I've stopped in. They periodically have sales on particular categories of books; if you get on the email list you'll get notices about these (for example, 30 percent off children's books). I find everything there a bit pricey, but I'm not into book collecting. I try to get most of mine from the public library these days, which is way easier than in days of yore with computer reserves and also email reminders for due dates.

9Sandydog1
Nov. 6, 2010, 4:49 pm

The Book Barn (Niantic, CT) is comprised of an enormous quirky, wonderful, campus. It has a second store about a mile down the road.

Smaller, but with equal used book store character, is Whitlock's Book Barn (Bethany, CT).

10pokrfce83
Nov. 8, 2010, 6:06 pm

I'm particularly fond of the Toadstool Bookshops in NH. There are a few locations, including my local in Milford and the flagship (IIRC) in lovely downtown Peterborough.

11avaland
Bearbeitet: Nov. 18, 2010, 4:50 pm

>10 pokrfce83: ha ha, that's my former and longtime place of employment:-) hmmm, do I know you?

12theapparatus
Apr. 23, 2011, 6:25 pm

More of a gaming store than a book store but I remember Quarterstaff Games:

http://www.quarterstaffgames.com/

The cool thing about it is in was on the second floor in an old bar. Has a solid bar running most of the length of the store. Played miniatures like Warhammer on the bar.

13MMcM
Jun. 1, 2011, 10:02 pm

The Ben Franklin Bookstore had a fire over the weekend.

14thornton37814
Jun. 2, 2011, 11:14 pm

That is very sad, MMcM!

15avaland
Jul. 14, 2011, 1:17 pm

>13 MMcM: I heard about that. So sad, particularly for Worcesterites.

16Sandydog1
Aug. 25, 2011, 5:29 pm

This summer, I stumbled upon some enormous library sales on this site:

http://www.booksalefinder.com/CT.html

and am carting home piles of books at "2nd to the last day sale price" of 50 cents a copy. Sorry, used book stores!

17avaland
Sept. 10, 2011, 8:46 pm

>16 Sandydog1: Yeah, that was a handy site when I was still doing booksales (I no longer wish to cart home piles :-). The huge Chelmsford Library sale must be coming up soon. Chelmsford is just off Route 495, so easy to get to. If you go the first day of the sale, the dealers start lining up at 6 am for a 9 am opening.

18Sandydog1
Sept. 27, 2011, 8:59 pm

Isn't it fun to watch the dealers? The first 15 minutes of a 100,000+ volume library book sale beats any sporting event.

19avaland
Dez. 6, 2016, 2:21 pm

Henniker, NH is a nice destination for book shopping.

1. There's the Old #6 Book Depot, a LARGE barn FULL of shelved, categorized used books. Two floors and I'm fairly certain the shelves downstairs are about 8 ft high, and the shelves upstairs area about 12 or 14 (ample ladders abound).

2. There is also the Henniker Book Farm (http://www.hennikerbookfarm.com/), but I've not been there (I get distracted by the terrific quilt shop in town).

3. On your way to Henniker, if you go through Weare, there is Boomer's Books, ( http://www.boomersbooks.net/ ), specializing in military history and lots
more.

4. North of Henniker on Route 114 in Bradford, NH is Books by the Lake ( http://www.conknet.com/~bksbylake/ ). Their books are in a small barn/garage next to the house.

Henniker is a small town, home of New England College. It has a lovely scenic covered bridge over the river. It also has Pat's Peak ski area, if you like to mix sports & books. There's a fabulous quilt shop and a fiber studio in town, and some great eating places. I highly recommend "daniel's" restaurant in the center of town on the river. There's also a terrific little cafe near the stone bridge (on the right just after the bridge going north on Route 114) that makes some excellent sandwiches.

Can anyone update the Pioneer Valley (Montague/Northampton/Amherst) book store destination trip? Are there other areas in New England worth driving to for their bookstores?

20avaland
Jul. 20, 2023, 2:28 pm

Updates: The Toadstool bookstore in Keene, NH is still there but it has a new owner. The Toadstool in Peterborough , NH also is owned with the same as Keene.

The Toadstool in Milford first moved a larger plaza east in Nashua, NH. When it didn’t sell with the two stores, the original owner changed the store name to Balin Books and he carries on with it.

21PatrickMurtha
Jul. 20, 2023, 2:46 pm

Since I don’t have access to English-language used bookstores here in Tlaxcala (Mexico City has a good one), I sincerely hope that all such stores make their stock available online through Ebay, Amazon, AbeBooks, Biblio, Alibris, whoever. That way I can support them (UK shops too), because I am a VIGOROUS online buyer.