The perfect time to pick up a book

MILLERTON — Lovers of the written word are in for a treat as treasures and unique experiences await them at Oblong Books and Music in Millerton and Rhinebeck, and at Merritt Bookstore in Millbrook, when they celebrate the Fifth Annual Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 27.  

The booksellers will be joining those at 500 other stores across the country, bringing a focus to the ways in which the shops contribute to the community.  

Suzanna Hermans, co-owner of Oblong said, “A bookstore brings something special to every community it is in. We’re a meeting place. We’re a safe space. We’re a place filled with ideas of all kinds. We also couldn’t survive without the support of our community and without our connections to our local schools and our local libraries.” 

Noted for Oblong’s involvement she said, “My rule of thumb is ‘I’ll say yes to everything at least once’” from visiting an Advanced Placement English class, to sending a bookseller to the Stissing Mountain High School Career Day to discuss publishing, to bringing both new and well-known authors to town.  “We love connecting with the community. It’s the key to our success.”  

And success she has seen as she grew up at and with the store. She explained that in 1975, her father Dick Hermans, with whom she is now partners, and his then partner Holly Nelson took a pick-up truck to a warehouse in New York City where they filled the truck with books and records, which they took to “a tiny, tiny little storefront — just up the hill from where we are now.” 

She said, “They were in their mid 20s then. They had an idea and thank goodness they stuck with it,” beginning with early offerings split evenly between music — mainly vinyl — and books. The store traveled across the street then back across to today’s building where stock consists mainly of books. A children’s store then opened around the corner and the Rhinebeck store opened in 2001. She joined the business in 2007.  

Hermans said that the coming of big box stores did cause difficulties around the country as many local book stores closed; but with none in this area, Oblong continued on.  

She feels, however, that now bookstores are having a resurgence as people begin to see they don’t really want to “live their lives online,” but instead prefer to walk around their town and support the merchants who provide local jobs and pay local taxes, which in turn support the community.  

One of Oblong’s biggest fans is fellow book lover and director of the NorthEast-Millerton Library Rhiannon Leo-Jameson. 

“They are very supportive of the library,” she said. The store runs a “Blind Date With a Book,” whereby a patron buys an unknown book for one dollar with that amount being credited to the library’s account.  

Leo-Jameson said she looks forward to the annual upcoming celebration as she always buys some of the specially produced author-autographed books and other items which are available for that day only.  

In celebration of the day, Millbrook’s Merritt Books, which is equally supportive of that community, will have a number of giveaways, raffles and a presentation “RX Haiku” with Michelle Fiordaliso who will create Haikus in response to visitors’ prompts.  

For more details, go to www.oblongbooks.com and www.merrittbooks.com.