Nancy Braus, founder of Everyone's Books, Brattleboro, Vt., has sold her downtown store to Red Durkin. VTDigger reported that when Braus launched the store in 1984, she "wanted to offer something different: a counterculture option that shouted yes to progressive politics, social justice and environmental awareness. And so she stocked a side-street storefront with paperbacks, periodicals and posters and opened the business as Everyone's Books."
Four decades later, Braus "is as surprised as anyone that her alternative bookstore now stands as the sole survivor of the town's once-heady literary heyday. To ensure the locally owned independent continues in an Amazon world, the soon-to-be 70-year-old is passing it on to a new generation," VTDigger noted.
"I thought, 'I've been doing this a long time. Maybe I'll be able to transition, but only if I find exactly the right person,' " she said.
Durkin, a 40-year-old California resident with a résumé as a bookseller in small and large stores on both coasts, was visiting friends in Brattleboro when she heard Braus was interested in retiring.
"I was looking for a small, close-knit community where I could put down roots and have a purpose," Durkin said.
"Our staff is totally quirky. Finding someone that fits in is not an easy task," noted Braus, who quickly sensed that Durkin was "one of us," and sold the business to her in October.
Durkin joked: "If I know one thing about New Englanders, it's that they love it when people from California come in with new ways of doing things. The store has been working just fine as it is. I want to keep the same staff. I want to keep the same inventory. My vision is to continue as it has been and grow in ways that might improve it. I know it's a treasured part of the community."