northshire. com
Northshire Bookstore Celebrates 50 Years
After nearly three decades, she remains clear-eyed about the standard the store holds itself to.“ We are trying to create an exceptional, rich, memorable experience every time someone comes into the store. It’ s kind of a high standard.”
A standard that is met time and again. Nicole and Scott agree that the staff themselves are central to what makes the store work.“ We’ re fortunate to have many tenured employees with ten, twenty, or even thirty plus years with us,” says Nicole. Booksellers like Alden Graves— who can name ten books similar to one you loved without missing a beat— embody the store’ s ethos. See Alden’ s book recommendations on page 79.“ Our booksellers, they read these books,” Nicole remarks.“ That is the difference, and that’ s what’ s so special.” Scott drew a parallel to another world he knows well:“ It’ s really similar to a
record store. People that work at record stores work there for a reason. It’ s their passion. It’ s not a job.”
As for what makes Northshire worth preserving and celebrating, Scott put it simply:“ The personality of the store; I think the best word is‘ character.’ It has a character. And characters, by the way. I see my son come in and the whole staff knows him. I see old pictures of Ed and his kids in the store. It’ s the sum of all of those parts. And it’ s all been worth it.”
After five decades, the character Scott described is only getting richer. As a longtime fan and supporter, I want to extend a heartfelt“ thank you” to Nicole, Scott, Cathleen, Ashley, and the entire staff at Northshire Bookstore for implementing fresh and exciting updates, all while keeping the things we love intact.
Cheers to 50 years of being the literary anchor of Manchester, VT. Our local landscape— and character— wouldn’ t be the same without it. n
northshire. com
22 manchester life | manchesterlifemagazine. com
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