Curating Community at the Brookline Booksmith.
BROOKLINE, MA (October 22, 2024)
Wandering down the creaky staircase to the basement of the Brookline Booksmith reveals every bookworm’s fantasy: With light classical music playing in the background, shelves upon shelves of titles greet visitors with the comforting smell of old books.
Brookline Booksmith has been a staple of the Brookline community since its opening in 1961. Their main floor exhibits popular American and international titles, the largest collection of international cookbooks in the country and various collectibles and gift items from local artists.
More than just a bookseller, Brookline Booksmith has been an integral player in the rise of accessible literature in the wealthy college town of greater Boston. In 2004, Brookline Booksmith decided to expand their inventory to used books, collected from their community and sold at a substantially lower price. With thousands of titles, the used book cellar has been a customer favorite for the past 20 years as it provides a plethora of affordable gently used copies of old and new books alike.
Co-owner and manager Lisa Gozashti is at the forefront of the used book cellar’s development and growth since its opening. With the price of books remaining relatively expensive, Gozashti believes the used book cellar creates a safe space for accessible, educational and enjoyable literature, alongside numerous other benefits.
With used books a great economically and ecologically conscious choice for readers, their popularity only grows with the growing number of college students in the Boston and Brookline area. Gozashti spoke with Northeastern University about Brookline Booksmith’s massive used book cellar and the ways it facilitates connection with their community.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Brookline Booksmith began as a more traditional bookseller. What inspired the opening of the used book cellar?
LISA GOZASHTI: We wanted to create another entry point for the wider community. Making books accessible, affordable and just capitalizing on all of the wealth in our community [is our goal]. In terms of readership, it's one of the hot spots of intellectual life in the United States. Being able to have the benefit of the access to all these beautiful treasures of books – we wanted to make that [variety] possible, and so we jumped into used book collections, and it was an incredible success from day one, and it just continued to grow.
Q: What draws people to used books?
GOZASHTI: Affordability is a huge piece of it. Also, I think there's something about the found [aspect], the thing that is meant for you because you happened upon it. It's just chance. People love having chance encounters – you're going to be exposed to literature you haven't seen before. There's all kinds of beautiful possibilities for felicity. In the used book cellar [it] is even more heightened because we have a lot of international travelers, and you actually can't find [some titles] in other places in America. It's so special. They tell a story of their own, and you got it for only $8. [It’s like] what gem can I find down here? If it's down here, it's meant for me.
Q: What kind of books do people look for in the used book cellar?
GOZASHTI: A lot of people [here] are looking for a specific title that they can't find upstairs or that we no longer have new. [When] people will call for books that we don't have in stock currently, and our first bet, our first attempt, is always to find it down here. I'd say, like, 50% of the time we have the book they're looking for down here. If we don't have it, we send them to another used bookseller. We try to support used booksellers in the area because often people are calling for books that are out of print or that we have had at one time we don't have any more.
Q: Used books are a form of recycling. How important is that to the community you serve?
GOZASHTI: We have a hugely dense student population in Boston. Students love it here because they're thinking about the future, and they want to do things that are sustainable. There are lots of people who only buy used books for that reason, and we love to support that. We're really happy and proud of what we've been able to do down here for that reason.
Q: As there is a large international community here in Boston, how does the used book cellar create a globally welcoming space?
GOZASHTI: There [are] many nationalities here, so many people [are] coming through. There's so many languages that are spoken. One of our core mission values is to represent diverse voices. The most cherished aspect of every day is to represent the widest possible array of cultures and different kinds of human experience. That's what we consider our mission as a bookstore [as]: Protecting and uplifting literature. As you can see here, just looking at this bay of [used] children's books, the variety of all kinds of different populations and communities and experiences [are represented]. We're the beneficiaries of that, because that is our community. We feel very privileged and honored to be connected to our community in the way that we are informed and inspired by our community. Brookline Booksmith would not be who we are without these.
Q: Where do you see the used book cellar in the future?
GOZASHTI: Next year, our dream is to redo the space so that it can have a more welcoming aesthetic – more beautiful, cozier lighting and possibly get some larger cases [to] extend out so we can have more book collections. We'd love to keep expanding it.