In a recent interview with Endicott College student Brianna Meagher, Laura Cummings, owner of White Birch Books in North Conway, N.H., talked about what it's like to own an independent bookstore. Among our favorite exchanges:
What does community involvement mean to you?
It's long been said in bookselling circles that a bookstore is what they call like a community third place.... And so as a bookstore, we feel that we're kind of a third place for people in our community. Community is important. It's a lot of saying yes to things. When people want to do things jointly we take our show on the road. We work with the local libraries. We work with several local nonprofits. We work with the schools. And we pretty much do almost anything we can to work with these different groups. We're happy to donate to any organization that come by and that kind of thing because community is what makes the difference. People can buy books almost anywhere and in a lot of cases they can buy them cheaper. But what we have, and what makes a difference is that they see people that they know. All of us who work here are involved in our communities. You know I also sit on my local school board. I sit on my afterschool program board. And that's the same with all of us that work here. We're real people with personalities and they see us around. It is important to get people into the store....
Is there anything you'd like to add about White Birch Books or anything you want people to know?
I think I have a very exceptional group of people who work here. I have made great friends working here. It's a fantastic community, the community of bookselling. I get to travel to different places.... I mean they're fantastic, interesting people and it's just ever-changing. I mean back when I first started and I would meet an author I swear it was like you were meeting a rock star. Now, it's not quite as new and exciting but still I get such a kick out of it and I think that's the thing. The thing with the 'Amazons' and things like that, they've really tried to turn books into a commodity. And in one case you know books are. They're something to be bought and sold. But it's more than that and that's the part of the business that I love. And I think that's what the independent bookstores keep alive are the stories and getting stories to the right people. It sounds corny but that's the fun stuff. If I was selling shoes I wouldn't be that excited about it.
