On to the next chapter
Broken Books and Rock Paper Flowers find new home in former Afterwords bookstore
Broken Books owner and operator Matt Howse wasn’t planning on relocating his bookstore from its home at 183A Duckworth St., a quaint shop along the steps neighbouring the National War Memorial in downtown St. John’s.
He was content; rent was great, traffic was regular, neighbours were cordial and there was adjacent green space.
He had toyed with the idea of relocating somewhere else in the downtown, but ultimately rent was too high elsewhere, so he stayed put.
But in the wake of Afterwords bookstore shuttering the business after over 45 years, co-owners David Benson and Catherine Mccasuland approached Howse about taking over the space at 245 Duckworth St. It was a blessing in disguise and a no-brainer for the 33-year-old entrepreneur.
“It’s not every day you get the chance to walk into a commercial space that people have known for decades as a place to go to get books,” says Howse, who re-launched Broken Books in the new space last weekend.
He ended up inheriting more than just the space from the previous occupants — he also got all their remaining shelving and close to 10,000 used books that they weren’t able to liquidate in the days leading up to the closure. (For the record, Howse estimates there were about 40,000 books in the store when that process began.)
He was also fortunate to benefit from some small loans to help facilitate the move. Not from banks, mind you, but from patrons.
“Customers of mine and customers of David and Catherine’s who said, ‘Matt, we know it’s winter, we’d really like to see that place stay open, we know David and Catherine are interested in you moving in there, if you’re worried about the money, maybe we can help,’” he recounts. “It didn’t cost me much to stay put, but I felt like getting the inventory, getting the shelves, having people help finance the move, why not try it? “It’s going to be a hustle, but I think there’s more opportunity to ring money out of this spot than the other one.”
Rent at Broken Books’ new home is roughly three times that of its former site, but it’s also five times the size. Howse
says that will allow him to offer more special events — readings, lectures and the scattered small live music performance — to more people.
“I’d love to have a little lecture series, too. That’s something we’ve never done before,” he says. “I’d like to get into a more formal lecture series that’s Newfoundland culture and literature themed.”
The extra space also means more for shop mate Patsy Power and the line of giftware, cards, wrap, plants, terrariums and fresh hand-tied bouquets that she offers through her business Rock Paper Flowers.
The two have shared a retail space since last April, when Power moved her operation from Water Street West. “For both of us, it was a way to take a little step back from being there all day, every day, all the time,” Howse says of the collaborative approach. “You share the risk, you share the labour and, hopefully, at the end of the day there’s a little more money left over.”
For her part, Power is delighted with the location, the space and the opportunity to bring it back to its former glory.
“I was excited to get a bigger space because I could increase my inventory,” Power says as she unpacks a box of recently delivered indoor plants, pots and indoor garden trinkets.
“Aside from some of the nurseries centres, there’s not a lot of places to buy that stuff, especially in the winter time, and everybody likes to have a little bit of green.”
Howse has a previous connection to Afterwords — “I literally spent more money in this store than I did on beer in my undergrad,” he says — and so does Power, although hers runs a little deeper.
Her husband’s family, a Tessier clan from St. John’s, operated Waterford Flowers out of the location until the early 1970s. When Afterwords assumed the space in 1972, they took down the old block letters that spelled Waterford and used them to make the Afterwords.
It’s not the only piece of Waterford Flowers nostalgia kicking around the store. Power also has a roll of wrapping paper that was used by the flower shop decades ago. “It’s all come full circle in kind of a weird way,” Power says.