Many years ago, two long-running independent bookstores in Rutland closed their doors within a couple years of each other. Book King had been open for more than 40 years, and Annie’s Book Stop for more than 30. But a couple years later, Rutland rallied together to bring a bookstore back.
When Phoenix Books opened smack in the middle of downtown at 2 Center St. in 2015, with its beautiful marble facade and cozy interior, it was front-page news. The bookstore is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Rutland this year.
It started when former Downtown Rutland Partnership director Mike Coppinger commissioned a study that showed where money was leaving Rutland County.
“There were a lot of empty storefronts at the time,” said Steve Costello, who was then vice president for generation and energy innovation at Green Mountain Power. “And a group of us were trying to recruit new businesses.”
When the study of underserved markets downtown showed bookstores right at the top of the list, GMP, the City of Rutland, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Partnership were among the organizations who jumped on it, plus a ton of community support.
“Everybody had a hand in it,” Costello said.
He started making cold calls to independent bookstores around Vermont, saying Rutland needed a bookstore, asking them to consider opening a branch here.
“The only one who returned my call was Mike DeSanto,” Costello said.
Michael DeSanto and Renee Reiner had founded Phoenix Books, opening a store in Essex in 2007 and another in Burlington in 2012. They were interested in Rutland. However, “You need a lot of cash up front to stock a store, and the only way he could envision doing it was if there was community support,” Costello said.
DeSanto and Reiner had opened Phoenix Books Burlington on a “community-supported enterprise” model, after the Border’s on Church Street in Burlington closed in 2011, and Reiner led a community campaign to finance a new store.
“Mike said, ‘Well, this is what I did in Burlington. If you can get 50 people who are willing to do a pre-buy of $1,000 worth of books (each), that will raise enough to get the inventory in,’” said Phoenix Rutland co-owner Tricia Huebner.
“Long story short: Within three weeks, we had $50,000 to basically pre-buy books,” Costello said.
“So when they would come into the store it would just come off their account,” Huebner said. “So they weren’t losing anything, they were just kind of loaning the money to get the inventory in.”
It didn’t take long, and DeSanto said back then, “I sense when I come down here that the whole community is involved in wanting a bookstore.”
“My husband and I did the thousand dollars, and Steve said, ‘By the way, Mike’s looking for a part-time owner-manager to invest more,’” Huebner recalled. “And my dream was to own a bookstore. So we went in for that and 10 years later here we are. I’m part-time owner and Michele (Farrington) is our manager, and we’re going strong.”
A year after the Rutland branch opened, industry giant Publisher’s Weekly named the Phoenix chain of independent bookstores in the nation’s finalists for bookstore of the year.
“I think the reason this industry has picked up on what Phoenix Books has done is because two of our three bookstores used a community sustained enterprise model to open,” Reiner said then. “I think there has been a lot of enthusiasm for this model, and Publisher’s Weekly and the industry says that’s pretty cool that it can work in Vermont.”
Rutland resident and business owner Tom Calcagny said back then his $1,000 pre-buy was money well spent, adding that it supported downtown as a whole.
MKF Properties Owner Mark Foley Jr. had worked with DeSanto to build out the space, and it has since hosted everything from author events to story walks, poetry readings, a chamber mixer; they participate in Friday Night Live, the Sidewalk Sales, the Whoopie Pie Festival, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Huebner and Farrington regularly bring events to places like local schools, the Paramount Theatre, and Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum, and they keep branching out — partnering with different community organizations for local events. Recently, the Feline Connection, a cat rescue nonprofit, brought their kittens for adoption to the store.
“They’re amazing, and it’s such a fun and interesting way to bring people downtown for different events,” Farrington said.
“I think that’s a big part of the success of all of their stores,” Costello said. “They’re very engaged in the community. And I don’t know who buys their books, but I swear every time I go in, I find two or three things I wasn’t looking for and have to read.”
“We’ve grown, and we’ve learned the community,” Huebner said. “We’ll find something that might not sell in the other stores, but that people in Rutland really like. I think 10 years have helped us fine-tune our understanding of what this community wants and needs, and buys and likes.”
“It’s a really great community,” Farrington added. “We all love Rutland.”
“We’ve had a lot of people from out of state over the summer, saying Rutland exceeded expectation and they loved Center Street and the vibe,” Huebner said. “And that’s so gratifying when people get it.”