"We're going to give people a chance to buy books online from the local guy. I'm very excited about it," said Keith Terwillegar, owner of Crow Bookshop, Burlington, Vt., regarding the shop's recently launched website.
The Free Press profiled the downtown bookshop that sells new and used books as well as remainders and "hurts," for which Terwillegar offered an unusual description: "Really, it means their feelings were hurt because they were at a bookstore, they weren't sold and they were returned."
For the new website, his goal was to create an indie alternative for readers: "We are not creating algorithms based upon keystrokes and mouse clicks to hone, narrow and define our customers' interests."
Terwillegar also observed that "for the past 16 years, I haven't had to have a real job. It's been luxurious." As to the ongoing industry changes, he noted: "All of these things present challenges. We just try to do our own thing."
Even with the new website, however, he still prefers his Church Street bricks-and-mortar life: "We allow one to wander in a physical space with the hope that it will expand one's interests."
Photo: Emily McManamy, Free Press