27east.com provided an update on Southampton Books, the former BookHampton store in Southampton, N.Y., which was purchased last November by Daniel Hirsch and Gregory Harris from longtime owner Charline Spektor.
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| Greg Harris, Daniel Hirsch and Terrapin (Photo: Dana Shaw/27East.com) | |
The pair are starting book clubs and plan to host discussions and roundtables on "bookish topics" and more signings and other events in-store and off-site.
Already the new owners have added new tables and displays and are changing the inventory. "We try to have something for everybody, in the sense that we have the stuff that you'll find in the other bookstores, but there's also an air of mystery," Hirsch said. "You come in here and you're not certain what you might find on the shelf. We like to have that feeling of hidden gems around the store. So there is something for everybody, from the obscure to the mainstream."
Harris, who in 2008 as a sideline started an online business selling rare and collectible books, Restaurant of the Mind Books, has been adding some of that inventory of about 4,000 books to Southampton Books, including first editions and signed copies.
"We want to be a real hub of the community," Hirsch said. "We want people to feel like they have a place where they can come, relax, and find a great book... it's a really good community for a bookstore, and that literary tradition--it's great knowing that it's here for you waiting to come off the street."
In related news, the branch of Bookhampton in East Hampton is still for sale, and owner Charline Spektor said she expects to close on a sale of that store in "just a few weeks."