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DANBURY — The Booksmiths Shoppe, a new independent bookstore that offers new and used books, is contributing to the trend of retail growth at the Summit development.
If the bookstore’s grand opening on Tuesday was any indication, owner Michelle Smith’s strategy to open her first brick-and-mortar storefront at the Summit has the potential to pay off.
“I was a little nervous, opening a new indie bookstore in Danbury,“ Smith said. “But we had a great first day, better than expected. The traffic here was steady and I couldn’t be more pleased with it."
About 50 to 75 people came in on the first day, she said.
“What we have here is a cozy bookstore with all kinds of variety," Smith said. "My very first customer came in looking for a specific book and couldn’t find it. But he kept looking around and he found another book and bought it."
The Booksmiths Shoppe joins other retail stores at the Summit, a 1.2 million-square-foot, mixed-use building at 100 Reserve Road that was once the headquarters of Union Carbide. It's now the home to retailers like the Libretto Lounge, BeYoga, Platinum Fitness, Superior Cleaners, Good Guys Barber, Kate & Emiles Hair Salon, and Cesarski Brothers Detailing. Nuvance Health has the largest presence at the Summit, taking up about one-third of the commercial space in the building.
The developers who purchased the property in 2018, with the goal of redeveloping it into a thriving housing, commercial and retail space, are in the first phase of construction of 360 apartments. Half of the one- and two-bedroom studio apartments will be completed at the end of this year.
“We’ve been very lucky, our plan here has always been to build a city within a city,“ Summit Project Manager Michael Basile said. “On the commercial side there continues to be a demand in the little space we have left. We are 90 percent occupied right now on the commercial end with more retail businesses coming in."
One is Costello’s Italian Steakhouse, which will open at the end of the year and will be a second eatery in the city for Costello’s Restaurant.
“Michelle is a wonderful person with a unique mind set when it comes to her new Booksmiths Shoppe," Basile said. “She has created the kind of a cool bookstore that you would find in Greenwich Village.“
Smith is an avid reader and during the height of the pandemic, when nearly everything was shut down, her accumulation of books grew. Looking for a way to move the books, she decided to sell them on eBay.
Today, she offers four ways online to buy books, with eBay representing 75 percent of her business. When her online bookstore started bringing in $2,000 month, she decided to take the next step and open a brick-and-mortar retail bookstore.
“I was looking for the right place to go, where there was potential for a lot of customer traffic,“ Smith said. “There is a big corporate presence here at the Summit, especially with Nuvance Health. I actually set my hours of operation to coincide with Nuvance Health, so I could be open when they have a large employee presence.
“I thought it would be a good fit for me here at the Summit."
As a way to enhance the bookstore experience, she organized two local authors for book signing events. From 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 23, Dan Coonan, has two books he will sign — "Presidential Spirits" and "Another Round of Presidential Spirits". On April 1 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Mark Perlman will sign his historical novel "The Reluctant Soldier. "
Smith will start a book club and also sells gifts, toys, mini foil balloons, greeting cards, puzzles, notecards, journals, postcards, and gift wrap.
For more information, go to the The Booksmiths Shoppe website at https://booksmithsshoppe.com/.
