New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
Get ready for new bookstore and lively conversation
“I’m thinking if I haven’t seen a book before, there’s a market for it.”
Sam Burton, owner, Grey Matter
Sam Burton likes a challenge. And so why not open a bookstore in New Haven in 2019?
Also, just to make it more stimulating, he lives with his wife and their 16-year-old son in Northampton, Mass., near another bookstore he has operated there for more than a decade. He will “commute” to New Haven, probably staying overnight here three or four days every week.
Granted, there are some potential obstacles with the plan. But this is good news, folks: we’re getting a new bookstore, Grey Matter, and it’s opening soon. (The tentative date for the “soft opening” is Thursday.)
When I stopped in to see Burton last Monday afternoon in his future shop at 264 York St. (around the corner from Yale’s Broadway shopping district), he was unpacking boxes of books and arranging them in the many bookcases he has brought in.
He didn’t yet have a proper store sign but he had composed this message for passers-by: “Grey Matter. Used and rare books. Coming early 2019.” And he had displayed a book in the front window: “So You Want to Open a Shop” by Alissa Keir. Perhaps he’s read it recently.
This property has been vacant for a few years; its revolving tenants have included clothiers and a Wawa convenience store. But it’s surprisingly spacious, containing 1,700 square feet, and has a marvelous parquet floor.
The books Burton was pulling out were mostly academic or scholarly, focusing on art, photography and architecture. As a guy with a philosophy degree, he will carry more than a fair share of works by philosophers.
But there will be lots of fiction too, along with first edition collectibles.
“I have boxes and boxes of Egyptology,” he said. “I’m thinking if I haven’t seen a book before, there’s a market for it.”
While I was taking a quick tour of the unfolding collection, I noted a bookcase with the categories “Sex” (only two titles as of last Monday), “Relationships,” “Gay and Lesbian interest” and “Pregnancy, childbirth, babies.”
Burton said he will buy used books if he thinks he can re-sell them. Of course he is well aware Book Trader is doing the same thing close by on Chapel Street, but the competition doesn’t seem to concern him.
“Where I’m from, there have been so many used bookstores,” he noted. “It was like a book mecca. A few of them closed but new ones recently came in.”
Burton knows about the independent bookstores here that have gone dark over the past 10 to 20 years, including Labyrinth on the adjacent block of York Street, Arethusa on Audubon Street, Bryn Mawr and the Foundry, both of them on Whitney Avenue.
He said Arethusa “seemed like a really good store” and admitted, “Labyrinth’s closing gave me pause.” But he added, “This seems like a good place to sell books and buy books.”
“Obviously, I’m not 100 percent confident this will work out,” he said. “In theory, this is ideal. What the practice is, I’ll find out soon.”
I asked Burton if he sees raised eyebrows and worried looks when he tells his friends what he’s doing down in New Haven. “Not really. People seem to mostly think it’s a good idea. My wife maybe less so! She’s been extremely skeptical about this undertaking. But I think she’s been won over because this place is so nice and well located.”
He calls it “a life-changing undertaking” but explains his motivation this way: “I’ve been in Hadley for 15 years. I’d previously never been anywhere more than five years. Doing something new in life is stimulating and fun — but exhausting.”
Here’s something that will contribute to Burton’s exhaustion: His landlord, Yale University, requires him, like its other stores in that area, to remain open until 9 p.m. six days a week. Burton will “take it easy” on Sundays, closing by 5 or 6 p.m.
He is optimistic enough to have signed a five-year lease. Referring to the Yale representatives he is dealing with, Burton said, “They have a mixed reputation but they’ve been very good to me — and for the right reasons. Having a store like this will be good for the neighborhood.”
Lauren Zucker of Yale University Properties told me in an email: “As part of Yale University’s community investment program, we are delighted to welcome an independent book seller.”
As a man living in another state, Burton can’t be at Grey Matter seven days a week. Asked how he will manage his schedule, he said: “In the short term, when I need to spend the night I’ll use an Airbnb or hotel. My hope is I’ll be here three or four days a week. My trusty staff will run it the rest of the time.”
As a way to liven up the place and fill all those hours he must remain open, Burton is planning to have readings by authors and maybe music performances. “This nice guy came in, a jazz musician and writer. If it’s allowed, I’ll have him in to play.” (There is a kind of mini-stage by the large front windows).
People do seem to be drawn in by the idea of a bookstore coming to town. “Everyone’s been so nice and welcoming,” Burton said. “They’ve been writing to me and coming through the door. It feels great.”
Burton embraces the concept of a “virtuous circle” in a bookstore rather than the “vicious cycle” we contend with in other endeavors. “What you want in this business is people coming in because there’s always something new to see; they buy books and that makes room for me to replace them with new books.’
“The future looks schleppy!” he said. He meant that if he can sell 500 books per month, he’ll have to “schlep” 500 new ones to his store.
Burton actually had this New Haven bookstore idea 10 years ago and came down here to scout out sites. “I decided I wasn’t ready. It’s different having a 16-yearold than a 6-year-old.”
That teenage son of his is looking forward to the opening-day party, for which Burton will offer wine, snacks and pizza. “He’s very excited about New Haven pizza,” Burton said.
Befitting his seat-of-thepants approach, Burton told me last Friday he still wasn’t positive he would be allowed to open Thursday. “That’s my plan, unless the fire marshal or some other authority tells me I can’t.”
And when I asked him if the store will begin its sales at the same time as the 5 p.m. party, he replied, “I guess so.”
But he added it’s possible he will be doing business earlier in the day.
As for the longer term, Burton said, “I hope that, by hook or by crook, I can make a go of it.”