{"id":122,"date":"2024-09-16T18:38:39","date_gmt":"2024-09-16T18:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/?p=122"},"modified":"2024-09-16T18:43:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-16T18:43:08","slug":"the-book-barn-in-niantic-creates-community-for-book-lovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/2024\/09\/16\/the-book-barn-in-niantic-creates-community-for-book-lovers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Book Barn in Niantic creates community for book lovers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Emi\u00adly Sharkis
Fea\u00adture Writ\u00ading Class
April 28, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step\u00adping onto the prop\u00ader\u00adty of the main loca\u00adtion of the Book Barn in Niantic, Con\u00adnecti\u00adcut feels like enter\u00ading a new world. Bright red pic\u00adnic tables, lush green\u00adery, and play\u00adground equip\u00adment all evoke a sense of child\u00adlike won\u00adder. One might think the Barn was a nurs\u00adery school if not for the main attrac\u00adtion: thou\u00adsands of used books. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDur\u00ading the busiest sum\u00admer buy\u00ading sea\u00adson, it\u2019s stan\u00addard for us to pur\u00adchase any\u00adwhere from ten to fif\u00adteen thou\u00adsand books a week,\u201d said long\u00adtime Book Barn cus\u00adtomer and employ\u00adee Glenn Shea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many bib\u00adlio\u00adphiles enjoy the wide vari\u00adety of titles. \u201cIt\u2019s like a lit\u00adtle trea\u00adsure hunt,\u201d said UConn junior Emi\u00adly Good\u00adwin, \u201cWhen I first get [to the Book Barn], I\u2019m not over\u00adwhelmed. I feel this boost of joy being sur\u00adround\u00aded by books. Books just make me so hap\u00adpy because I know that every sin\u00adgle one of them can take you away.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book Barn res\u00adi\u00addent Cheesepuff sleeps peace\u00adful\u00adly amongst the books. Pho\u00adto via Emi\u00adly Sharkis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the Barn is known for hav\u00ading one-off copies of rare finds, the young adult sec\u00adtion har\u00adbors plen\u00adty of mul\u00adti\u00adples: rows of John Green nov\u00adels, dystopi\u00adan clas\u00adsics, and an entire shelf ded\u00adi\u00adcat\u00aded to copies of If I Stay <\/em>by Gayle Forman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main build\u00ading at the Main Barn holds an expan\u00adsive young adult sec\u00adtion, where cus\u00adtomers can often find an adorable cat named Cheesepuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good\u00adwin, who just so hap\u00adpens to be my room\u00admate, calls this sec\u00adtion her favorite. \u201cIt\u2019s very nos\u00adtal\u00adgic for me because it\u2019s all these books that I want\u00aded to read or had read dur\u00ading my child\u00adhood,\u201d said Goodwin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Book Barn also has two oth\u00ader loca\u00adtions. The Book Barn Down\u00adtown is a three minute dri\u00adve from the Main Barn. Pur\u00adchased as an over\u00adflow space, the Book Barn Down\u00adtown is full to the brim with children\u2019s lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture, fan\u00adta\u00adsy, and unique titles such as How to Sur\u00advive a Shark\u00adna\u00addo and Oth\u00ader Unnat\u00adur\u00adal Dis\u00adas\u00adters <\/em>by Andrew Shaffer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Opened in May 2014, Chap\u00adter Three sits right down the road from the Main Barn. This cozy spot sells Book Barn appar\u00adel and has a focus on romance, enter\u00adtain\u00adment, and mil\u00adi\u00adtary titles. Vis\u00adi\u00adtors of Chap\u00adter Three are often greet\u00aded by the feline trio of cats Rose\u00admary, Thyme, and Cutiepie. The expan\u00adsive prop\u00ader\u00adties and unique quirks make the Book Barn feel like more than just a used book store. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany teach\u00aders bring their class\u00ades to the Barn stores as days out, and because the main prop\u00ader\u00adty has play areas \u2014 swings, a slide, a play\u00adhouse, kid cars, a chess set\u2013as well as a sup\u00adply of cats and goats, they react to the Barn as if they were hav\u00ading recess,\u201d said Shea, \u201cWe often hear sto\u00adries from par\u00adents who tell us their child asked to come to the Barn for their birthdays.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good\u00adwin first found out about the Book Barn through a Google search last sum\u00admer. Dri\u00adving down from the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Con\u00adnecti\u00adcut took my friends and I about an hour, but com\u00adpared to some of the Barns\u2019 oth\u00ader cus\u00adtomers, this dis\u00adtance is rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly short. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe get vis\u00adi\u00adtors reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly now from all over, rang\u00ading from a cou\u00adple who\u2019d dri\u00adven from Penn\u00adsyl\u00adva\u00adnia express\u00adly to vis\u00adit the Barn, to a fam\u00adi\u00adly I see every year\u2026that live in India, who come to buy books for their kids and bring me the gos\u00adsip about what\u2019s going on in Del\u00adhi,\u201d said Shea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of the rea\u00adson peo\u00adple trav\u00adel far and wide for the Barn is that they do not offer any kind of online shop\u00adping. When Ran\u00addi and Mau\u00adreen White opened the Book Barn in 1988, online book\u00adselling was not near\u00adly as pop\u00adu\u00adlar as it is now. Plus, \u201cRan\u00addi want\u00aded to build the store up to have enough books to draw peo\u00adple in from a dis\u00adtance,\u201d said Shea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest draws to used book\u00adstores is the fact that their stock is often priced quite low. A fact that Shea says could not exist if the Barn went online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we sold online we\u2019d have to raise prices pre\u00adcip\u00adi\u00adtous\u00adly, as we\u2019d need to hire at least two more peo\u00adple to do the cat\u00ada\u00adloging and mail orders\u2026Because the prices are low we have the best turnover I\u2019ve ever seen in a sec\u00adond\u00adhand book\u00adshop; we reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly cull and dol\u00adlar old stock. So all of this hangs togeth\u00ader: peo\u00adple will come a good dis\u00adtance to find cheap books, we\u2019re the only place local\u00adly that offers cash as well as store cred\u00adit for books, and so all this saves us from hav\u00ading to deal with sell\u00ading online. Ran\u00addi did\u00adn\u2019t want the best and rarest of our stock going out to some\u00adone sit\u00adting at home in Nebraska\u2013he want\u00aded to pull peo\u00adple in, and it\u2019s worked,\u201d said Shea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just the low prices that draw in cus\u00adtomers, how\u00adev\u00ader, it\u2019s also the large sense of com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty that can be felt at all three Book Barn locations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sense of com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty starts with the book\u00adsellers them\u00adselves. \u201cThe empha\u00adsis when [Ran\u00addi and store man\u00adag\u00ader T. Hagan] inter\u00adview or hire is that we all sup\u00adport each oth\u00ader when some\u00adone needs a day off, or has a med\u00adical emer\u00adgency, so on and on. I know this sounds like cor\u00adpo\u00adrate\u00ads\u00adpeak, but it\u2019s always great to see it in the flesh. I think this is vis\u00adi\u00adble to the peo\u00adple who come to vis\u00adit and shop, and they often become part of the place as well,\u201d says Shea, \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how often, when a cus\u00adtomer has asked me a ques\u00adtion I can\u2019t answer, the answer has been called out by one of our reg\u00adu\u00adlar cus\u00adtomers, kib\u00aditz\u00ading from the side.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the future, Shea says he hopes to keep up the good work, with\u00adout any major changes. \u201cGod knows we have enough books, and we have enough cus\u00adtomers. If some\u00adthing\u2019s work\u00ading as it should, you try not to jim\u00admy with it.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emi\u00adly SharkisFea\u00adture Writ\u00ading Clas\u00ads\u00adApril 28, 2024 Step\u00adping onto the prop\u00ader\u00adty of the main loca\u00adtion of the Book Barn in Niantic, Con\u00adnecti\u00adcut feels like enter\u00ading a new world. Bright red pic\u00adnic tables, lush green\u00adery, and play\u00adground equip\u00adment all evoke a sense of child\u00adlike won\u00adder. One might think the Barn was a nurs\u00adery school if not for [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":917,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-written-work","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/917"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaljournalism.uconn.edu\/emily-sharkis-portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}