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| Roebling Point's future location in Dayton, Ky. | |
Roebling Point Books & Coffee, with stores in Covington and Newport, Ky., is opening a new store in Dayton. Located at 301 Sixth Ave., the third Roebling Point will span some 2,200 square feet.
Owner Richard Hunt is eyeing an April 28 opening for the new store. It will have an inventory consisting of around 80% rare and out-of-print books, and he noted that aside from local authors like Wendell Berry, who is "Kentucky through and through," the Roebling Point team makes an effort to keep each store's selection distinct. They're close enough to each other that staff can "shuttle books" between locations and to customers, often by bicycle. He added that the new store will have a mostly used inventory to make sure the "discovery process is heightened."
Hunt described Dayton as "rebuilding," and said the city is actively courting residents it believes will be interested in things like bookstores, coffee shops and healthy eating. There will also be a commercial kitchen in the building right behind the bookstore and coffee shop, to be used by Lil's Kitchen.
Asked how the expansion came about, Hunt said it began with Lil's Bagels, a bakery that used to be neighbors with the Roebling Point location in Covington. During the six or so years when the businesses were side by side, Hunt and his staff bonded with Lil's Bagels owner Julia Keister and her staff. The two businesses shared similar philosophies about helping the community, collaborated on plenty of events, took turns doing things like shoveling the sidewalk, and after a Roebling Point Books & Coffee manager was killed by a hit-and-run driver, the staff of both stores "came together in order to not fall apart."
That, Hunt said, was the "crucible," and when Lil's Bagels could not renew their lease and closed late last year, the two businesses essentially merged. "Suddenly we had doubled our staff size, moved a lot of kitchen equipment and furnishings," but "most of all we had galvanized our mission to be a force for good in Northern Kentucky, even dreaming larger to promote books, community and literacy in Cincinnati and outlying areas."
Remarking that he's lived through his "Beatles birthday" and is now "staring down Medicare," Hunt mused that he wanted to "find a way that the store lives on to benefit the community," and he would like to find a way "to make Roebling a career for those who'd opt to choose being in the book business." At the same time, he and Keister "want to help nourish others, be it with books or coffee or food." --Alex Mutter