By the end of October, Washington, D.C., will have a new independent bookstore: Upshur Street Books, in the city's Petworth neighborhood, which has had no indie bookstore. The store's owner and founder is Paul Ruppert, a local entrepreneur who is also the backer of Petworth Citizen, a bar and reading room; Crane & Turtle, a restaurant; and the Warehouse Theatre, a multi-purpose arts complex for theater, music, film and visual arts.
"I've always loved bookstores, but I don't have any experience as a bookseller," said Ruppert. After the spot next to Petworth Citizen opened up, and encouraged by reports of the indie bookstore resurgence, he decided to open one of his own. "The kind of key to our success is that we find really talented people who are knowledgeable and passionate and hardworking and set up a framework."
To that end, Ruppert has hired Anna Thorn, currently programs manager at Politics & Prose, to manage the new store. Thorn has worked at P&P for just over four years, beginning as a frontline bookseller before eventually moving on to projects manager. In that role she oversaw the store's expanding offerings of classes, trips and tours. The job required, Thorn said, innovative programming and frequent evaluations of customer feedback--two things which she plans to bring to Upshur Street Books.
"The idea is to figure out what the community wants," said Thorn. She looks to differentiate the 800-square-foot store from other area indies with a wide-ranging but careful selection. In addition to bestsellers and trade fiction and nonfiction, Thorn intends to specialize in four sections: children's books, art books, literature and poetry, and local authors. Sidelines, meanwhile, will include cards, gifts, and art made by local artists. And all of these sections, Thorn added, will be adjusted based on customer feedback and sales data.
"As I was going through the catalogues and getting a purchase order together, I felt like a kid in a candy store," Thorn recalled. She described herself as a diverse, omnivorous reader and hopes to hire employees with similarly wide-ranging interests. Although she described her own taste in fiction as a bit "out there," she has reason to believe that it will suit her community just fine: at an open house held recently to meet community members and gather support for a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign (asking for $17,000 towards construction costs), Thorn set up a poster asking for people to write down their favorite books and authors.
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| Anna Thorn, Upshur's manager. | |
"I was so excited," she said. "There were so many great, weird, intelligent answers. Even though I have strange tastes, they might be exactly what my customers are looking for."
Events will be another one of the store's focal points, and Thorn said that she's "willing to try anything." Beyond hosting the traditional author event and supporting book clubs and groups, Thorn would like to host language groups and conversation classes. Children's programming, including story hours and singalongs, will be big. Both Ruppert and Thorn described the Petworth community as very creative and very artistic, and to suit those needs she'll organize craft workshops and art-oriented events. Given the store's small amount of space, Thorn will occasionally host events in Petworth Citizen's reading room next door.
Thorn heard about the plan to open an independent bookstore in Petworth before she was aware of the job opportunity, and was initially thrilled just to know that an indie would soon open in her neighborhood. At the beginning of this summer, a job posting was put up for store manager. Before Thorn even began seriously thinking about applying for the job, the posting was taken down and she assumed the position had been filled. But then it reappeared toward the end of summer, and this time Thorn seriously considered it.
"I applied, and things moved very quickly," Thorn said. "I met Paul and the whole management team and they made me feel good about being involved. They were easy to work with, very competent, and they did their homework."
According to both Ruppert and Thorn, the Petworth community's response has been very encouraging. More than 100 people showed up to the open house, and more than 300 backed the store's Kickstarter campaign. Said Ruppert: "We've seen great responses and enthusiasm from a wide range of people." --Alex Mutter