Initiative aims to bring independent bookstore to Davis

Following the March 2008 departure of local bookstore McIntyre and Moore Booksellers from Davis Square, community members have organized a grassroots effort to attract another independent bookstore to the area.

"I think that the vibe and community of Davis would be a great place for a bookstore," said Krysta Chauncey, a Tufts graduate student involved in the movement.

Chauncey said she thought a bookstore would provide new cultural opportunities that the Davis Square area would be well−positioned to take advantage of.

"Besides the obvious of a place to get books, it's a good flashpoint for local authors, a good meeting place for reading clubs, a great place to be a local community hub, and I think that Davis is the kind of community that could support something like that," Chauncey said.

The group spearheading the effort, known informally as the Davis Bookstore Project, is made up of community professionals who hope to find a bookseller interested in opening a store in Davis.

The project started as the brainchild of online entrepreneur Jay Neely, who said she was inspired by a message written on the construction barriers surrounding Starbucks while it was in mid−March undergoing renovations.

"When I was walking through Davis, I saw that someone had written in black Sharpie, ‘Please bring us a bookstore,'" Neely said.

Neely explained that she then posted a flyer in Diesel Café hoping to attract volunteers, which produced a fairly large response. In the three weeks since, the group has grown to include former book publishers, Web designers and writers, among others.

"Right now, we have over a dozen people actively helping out, a dozen more who've indicated interest and plenty who've indicated support," Neely said. "I think there's a really large community who supports this."

Despite the following the Davis Bookstore Project has gained, the movement is still lacking an individual or company willing to start up the bookstore.

"It's sort of an unusual effort in that none of us is proposing to own or run the bookstore ourselves," Chauncey said. "But we're looking for a bookstore that we can support in the endeavor."

The group currently operates a Web site and has arranged meetings with other local bookstore owners to research and gather information. The group's main aim is to find an individual to own and operate the proposed bookstore.

"Until we find someone who wants to open a bookstore, the main thing we're all doing is looking for that person," Chauncey said. "We're all talking to publishing communities, authors and business communities to figure out how to find that person."

The group is looking for a bookseller willing to work with a hybrid business model and run a non−traditional bookstore, according to Chauncey.

"Given the challenges of local independent bookstores, we think that a bookstore with a café in it, that is, a non−profit that is focused on hiring homeless people or with an author co−op aspect or a music section, would not only help make it unique but also help draw people to it," Chauncey said.

Neely hopes that once the Davis Bookstore Project finds a storeowner, the group will be able to provide much needed support to that person.

"Bookstores are a really old business, and independent bookstores are having a really hard time adapting to the new business and new economy because they're operating on facts that are outdated," Neely said. "This is why I think this group could be so helpful, because it's made up of an incredible variety of people with different kinds of resources."

Neely also hopes that the bookseller will continue the tradition at McIntyre and Moore — the last bookstore to have a presence in Davis — of selling used books.

"A large used−book selection is key to reflecting the history of the community," Neely said. "Plus, it would serve college students and young professionals to have a wide variety of cheaply available books."

McIntyre and Moore maintained its Davis Square location for 10 years before it in 2008 was forced to move to a new location in Porter Square due to the high rent.

Junior Katherine Evering−Rowe feels that having a bookstore in Davis Square would benefit students and improve community relations.

"I think that would be a great way to connect the Tufts community to the Somerville community," Evering−Rowe said. "I think that it would be incredible to be able to buy textbooks at a price that isn't ridiculous at a place within walking distance."