Store owners (from left to right) Chris Weber, Bethany Streitmatter, and Darlene Ertel.
Photograph courtesy The Bookshelf
The Bookshelf, Madeira’s women-owned, independent bookstore, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a day of free events including author signings, chances to meet former partners, and a launch party for a local author.
Photograph courtesy The Bookshelf
Visitors are welcome to stop by throughout the day on September 20 to celebrate The Bookshelf’s “storied” history. From 1 to 3 p.m., readers can meet Lynne Hugo, a New England author of thirteen novels, including Mothers of Fate and The Language of Kin, both of which are sold at the store. From 7 to 9 p.m., Cincinnati lawyer and writer Alissa Sammarco will have a launch party for her new book of poems, Italian Dinner Music. Wine and small bites will be provided.
The Bookshelf’s half-century of history dates back to 1975. The quaint shop was founded by three women—Blair Garvey, Anne Harrison, and Gen Rosenkrantz—who, with help from their families, stocked and built the store’s bookshelves by hand. The Bookshelf remains in its original Camargo Station location but has since expanded to more than double its size, now totaling 1,400 square feet.
Today, the store is run by partners Chris Weber, Darlene Ertel, and Bethany Streitmatter. The partners carefully curate a selection of old and new titles to fill their shelves, but according to Weber—a partner for more than 27 years—The Bookshelf has come to represent more than just a retail space. “I think for us, it’s a wonderful little place where we can come away from our outside lives—it’s home,” she says.
Photograph courtesy The Bookshelf
By making close relationships with customers, the partners will track down books not in their stock, tracking down hard-to-locate titles and even shipping books from across the world at no charge to their customers. According to Ertel, who became a partner earlier this year after visiting The Bookshelf for years as a customer, says part of the store’s role is helping readers track down books they couldn’t find elsewhere. “We will hunt down books for people when they are interested in something, even if it’s something that’s older or out of print,” she says.
Running an independent bookstore has meant adapting to the shifts in the industry, though, from the rise of online retailers, audiobooks, and Kindles, to general changes in reading habits. Yet, Weber says the shop’s focus on personal connections has helped it persist. “We just had a customer that had a huge surgery, and we sent her a get well note,” she recalls. “I mean, I don’t think Jeff Bezos is going to do that for somebody. That is who we are—we know the families and it makes a huge difference.”
That same approach comes into play when customers ask for suggestions. “The first thing I say to them is, what was the last book you read that you loved Or, where in the world do you want to travel to this week? What country do you want to go to?” says Weber.
Since its start, The Bookshelf has remained entirely women-owned—a legacy that has remained central to the store’s identity. More than a dozen women have served as partners over the years.
Photograph courtesy The Bookshelf
“We’ve had a lot of men who’ve wanted to buy in, but we really feel that it would change the dynamic of who we are,” says Weber.
For Weber, marking the 50th anniversary is as much about looking back as looking forward. “We would not be here today if it wasn’t for all of the women that went before us,” she says. “It’s a long tribute to everybody that was here before us. It was their vision, and we embraced it and moved it along.”