Browsing for Book Bargains...
at Homestead Bookshop
(Marlborough, NH)
by Lori Hein
I get cheap thrills - grocery bags filled to the brim with used hardcovers and
paperbacks for about $15 a sack - from Robert Kenney's Homestead Bookshop
in Marlborough, New Hampshire. The shop, which Kenney told me his
parents opened 35 years ago as a "retirement and fun business" and which
Kenney has run since 1981, is paradise for browsers and bargain-hunters. I've
been a regular for 20 years.
Most of Kenney's customers are regulars, although he sees some of them but
once a year. "Our business is primarily out-of-town or out-of-state repeat
business," he said. Homestead has cultivated a following among travelers
passing the Route 101 shop on their way to or from somewhere else. For
people whose reasons for driving through Marlborough are "everything
imaginable," the modest emporium of previously thumbed tomes is a
destination in itself, "something that's high on their list," said Kenney. He
looks forward to visits from his "habitual" customers, people "who might be
driving from the seacoast to New York state or in the opposite direction,
people who have second homes, or who come home for the holidays or to visit
parents. I see some people the same weekend every year."
I live close enough to Homestead to be able to pay more frequent visits, and
every one is a lovely little trip. I usually squirrel myself in the corner that
holds the shelves of used paperback classics arranged alphabetically by
authors' last names and priced at a quarter to a buck a pop. At these prices,
there's no economic need for restraint, so I make towering piles of anything by
Wharton or Rand, Welty or Hemingway, Hersey or Greene that I haven't yet
read and gradually move the piles from the floor to the old desk at the front
door that serves as the checkout area.
Even if I buy 30 new-old books, there will be 30 fresh choices awaiting me on
my next visit because Kenney is constantly restocking his inventory. One day,
I found him surrounded by cardboard Budweiser cartons filled with books that
someone had just dropped off. He was busy dusting them with a fat brush
he'd pulled from the chest pocket of his denim apron and was sorting them by
category. The boxes held an eclectic array of titles from "Of Human Bondage"
and "Leaves of Grass" to "Handbook of Amazon Parrots" and "The Boston
Massacre." I asked Kenney how often people come in with books for him to
buy. He smiled. "All the time. Every day. Every minute."
So there's always something for everyone in this cozy little store that offers the
gamut from cheap, dog-eared paperbacks to rare and precious first editions
and out-of-print treasures. Coffee table books to antique volumes with
gilt-embossed covers and illuminated illustrations. Back issues of popular
magazines to the occasional complete set of the "Hardy Boys."
And Kenney knows where every book is. I've yet to see him stumped when
someone asks for a particular volume. I told him his ability to put his hands so
quickly on a requested title impressed me. "That's one of the advantages of
this shop," he nodded. "The organization. Everything is categorized and
orderly. We have categories. We may not find it in the first category we try,
but we're able to narrow it down very quickly."
"How many books are in here?" I asked.
"Fifty thousand," he answered without hesitation. I looked around and
considered what it might be like to be surrounded most of one's waking hours
by fifty thousand books. "Do you love it?" I asked.
Another smile. "Yes." He continued, "I'm involved with the books seven days
a week. Even when I'm not in the store, I'm often doing something
book-related."
Like serving as president of the New Hampshire Antiquarian Booksellers
Association, enjoying biographies, his favorite genre, or gathering once a
month with about a dozen other booklovers to "read Shakespeare in the
afternoon."
Contact Homestead Bookshop at 603-876-4213 or 800-834-3618 toll-free.
About the Author:
Lori Hein has written over a hundred articles on a range of topics. She's the
author of "Ribbons of Highway: A Mother-Child Journey Across America" and
publisher of the world travel blog, Ribbons of Highway , a Good
Housekeeping Site of the Day. She splits her time between homes in the
Boston area and Stoddard, NH.
at Homestead Bookshop
(Marlborough, NH)
by Lori Hein
I get cheap thrills - grocery bags filled to the brim with used hardcovers and
paperbacks for about $15 a sack - from Robert Kenney's Homestead Bookshop
in Marlborough, New Hampshire. The shop, which Kenney told me his
parents opened 35 years ago as a "retirement and fun business" and which
Kenney has run since 1981, is paradise for browsers and bargain-hunters. I've
been a regular for 20 years.
Most of Kenney's customers are regulars, although he sees some of them but
once a year. "Our business is primarily out-of-town or out-of-state repeat
business," he said. Homestead has cultivated a following among travelers
passing the Route 101 shop on their way to or from somewhere else. For
people whose reasons for driving through Marlborough are "everything
imaginable," the modest emporium of previously thumbed tomes is a
destination in itself, "something that's high on their list," said Kenney. He
looks forward to visits from his "habitual" customers, people "who might be
driving from the seacoast to New York state or in the opposite direction,
people who have second homes, or who come home for the holidays or to visit
parents. I see some people the same weekend every year."
I live close enough to Homestead to be able to pay more frequent visits, and
every one is a lovely little trip. I usually squirrel myself in the corner that
holds the shelves of used paperback classics arranged alphabetically by
authors' last names and priced at a quarter to a buck a pop. At these prices,
there's no economic need for restraint, so I make towering piles of anything by
Wharton or Rand, Welty or Hemingway, Hersey or Greene that I haven't yet
read and gradually move the piles from the floor to the old desk at the front
door that serves as the checkout area.
Even if I buy 30 new-old books, there will be 30 fresh choices awaiting me on
my next visit because Kenney is constantly restocking his inventory. One day,
I found him surrounded by cardboard Budweiser cartons filled with books that
someone had just dropped off. He was busy dusting them with a fat brush
he'd pulled from the chest pocket of his denim apron and was sorting them by
category. The boxes held an eclectic array of titles from "Of Human Bondage"
and "Leaves of Grass" to "Handbook of Amazon Parrots" and "The Boston
Massacre." I asked Kenney how often people come in with books for him to
buy. He smiled. "All the time. Every day. Every minute."
So there's always something for everyone in this cozy little store that offers the
gamut from cheap, dog-eared paperbacks to rare and precious first editions
and out-of-print treasures. Coffee table books to antique volumes with
gilt-embossed covers and illuminated illustrations. Back issues of popular
magazines to the occasional complete set of the "Hardy Boys."
And Kenney knows where every book is. I've yet to see him stumped when
someone asks for a particular volume. I told him his ability to put his hands so
quickly on a requested title impressed me. "That's one of the advantages of
this shop," he nodded. "The organization. Everything is categorized and
orderly. We have categories. We may not find it in the first category we try,
but we're able to narrow it down very quickly."
"How many books are in here?" I asked.
"Fifty thousand," he answered without hesitation. I looked around and
considered what it might be like to be surrounded most of one's waking hours
by fifty thousand books. "Do you love it?" I asked.
Another smile. "Yes." He continued, "I'm involved with the books seven days
a week. Even when I'm not in the store, I'm often doing something
book-related."
Like serving as president of the New Hampshire Antiquarian Booksellers
Association, enjoying biographies, his favorite genre, or gathering once a
month with about a dozen other booklovers to "read Shakespeare in the
afternoon."
Contact Homestead Bookshop at 603-876-4213 or 800-834-3618 toll-free.
About the Author:
Lori Hein has written over a hundred articles on a range of topics. She's the
author of "Ribbons of Highway: A Mother-Child Journey Across America" and
publisher of the world travel blog, Ribbons of Highway , a Good
Housekeeping Site of the Day. She splits her time between homes in the
Boston area and Stoddard, NH.
| The Heart of New England Celebrating the unique character & culture of Maine ~ New Hampshire ~ Vermont |
| ©The Heart of New England online magazine ...celebrating the unique character of Maine, New Hampshire & Vermont Contact | The Heart of New England HOME | Search |
| Home ~ Life in New England ~ Recipes ~ Garden ~ Travel ~ B&B/Inns ~ Made in New England ~ Events ~ Art/Prints ~ Archives ~ About Us |
| Homestead Bookshop Marlborough, NH Click here for your FREE weekly newsletter! (And get 12 FREE desktop backgrounds) Bring the heart of New England into your home with beautiful, affordable, high-quality New England prints. Visit our New England Art Gallery today! More Travel Stories: Maine New Hampshire Vermont |