Northshire Bookstore Celebrates 50 Years
They’ re huge fans of ours, and we’ re huge fans of theirs,” Scott says. The celebration will feature a full day of fun and festivities for the whole family. A complete schedule will be available on Northshire’ s website closer to the date.
A special 50th anniversary logo is being unveiled this spring, an extension of the redesigned image the new ownership introduced early in their tenure. Anniversary merchandise— including sweatshirts, totes, and other branded items— will also be available. Nicole had a wild anecdote to share about Northshire merchandise, which seems to have become a phenomenon in its own right. She recalled being stopped on the Chain Bridge in Budapest, Hungary by a couple who recognized her Northshire Bookstore hat:“ I hear‘ Northshire Bookstore!’ and there’ s a couple crossing the bridge— they live in Vermont half the year and they love Northshire. The
16 manchester life | manchesterlifemagazine. com husband said,‘ I think I have a Northshire book in my hotel room.’ And we ended up having this lovely chat.” Her sister Cathleen was similarly approached in Costa Rica while wearing a Northshire hat. It’ s a small world, after all, but it seems an independent bookstore in rural Vermont like Northshire can still have a prominent place in it.
The anniversary year comes alongside a slate of new offerings and refinements.
The Northshire Book Festival, previously known as Booktopia, is their annual book festival that kicks off the first weekend in May, featuring author events and panels.“ We really want to grow it,” shares Nicole. Of the festival’ s longtime faithful attendees, she adds,“ it’ s a weekend I look forward to, and one they do, too. It’ s a chance to reconnect with each other. It’ s a truly beautiful thing to be part of.”
Northshire has also improved upon their membership rewards and revamped their subscription tiers. The first tier is Selects, a standard Book of the Month-style program with more reader customization. The second is Book Curator, Nicole’ s personal book club, built around five reader identities spanning literary fiction, horror, fantasy, romance, and mystery.“ Each month, I recommend five books across those categories, and readers can sign up for a free newsletter,” she explains.“ On the first of the month, they receive my picks along with my thoughts. There’ s also an option to have the books selected and shipped directly.” The third tier, Literary Concierge, is a premium, personalized service.“ If you’ re going to Ireland, for example, and you want to know five Irish authors you should read and have those waiting for you in Ireland, we can make that happen.”
In partnership with the Barrows House in Dorset, Northshire has been hosting writer and reader retreats that have quickly developed a following.“ They have such a beautiful location. It’ s so charming,” Cathleen says.“ We usually do a writers retreat in January, right after the holidays. The snow’ s outside, and it’ s so cozy, with areas for people to curl up, work, and write.” Each retreat features a beautiful dinner and a panel with authors, publishing industry professionals, and Northshire staff— including Stan Hynds, the store’ s Adult Book Buyer, and Rachel Person, Director of Events. Repeat attendees have become a hallmark of the program.“ These retreats allow people to make time for their literary passion,” Cathleen shares.
Book Curator retreats, organized and hosted by Nicole herself, take a different approach.“ They’ re thoughtfully curated getaways where we naturally end up talking about books … around the table, at wine tastings, even at Dracula’ s castle.” Two intimately sized Book Curator retreats are planned this year in Charlottesville, VA with a European retreat to be announced for October. Northshire’ s author programming has long been one of its most celebrated fea-