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03/16/2017 04:00 PMThrowing open the doors on a third bookstore in the R.J. Julia universe is a 180-degee swerve from the direction founder Roxanne J. Coady was approaching five years ago.
Back then, Coady was positioning to sell off her flagship Madison bookstore, R.J. Julia Independent Booksellers. But, to the relief of shoreline readers, the store came off the block unscathed, and Coady remained at the helm. Recently, to the delight of her Long Island fans, Coady and her management team helped reinvigorate BookHampton, a village
bookstore in East Hampton, NY.
Now, more than 25 years after putting R.J. Julia Booksellers on the map, Coady is curating a new, 7,000 square-foot bookshop in partnership with Wesleyan University and located on Middletown's Main Street. News of the new store was announced on Nov. 30, 2016, by Coady and an excited town-and-gown contingent. The new Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore will open in time for Wesleyan's May commencement.
Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore is expected to become a downtown destination geared to reinvigorate the area's diverse cultural, academic and business community.
"Being a destination business really anchors Main Streets," says Coady. "In Middletown, that's their objective."
Sounds like a tall order, but Coady may well be the perfect person for the job.
"One of the drivers for me, always, is about a bookstore being the third place, the 'town green,'" says Coady. "So the thing that motivated me to open the bookstore, and the thing that motivates me still, all these years later, is the idea of the third place. Now, here comes Middletown, who joins forces between a world class university, a very innovative and progressive Town Hall, a very vibrant Chamber of Commerce and a very motivated community wanting a bookstore, and willing to commit serious dollars and energy to it. Hard not to be responsive to that. That's a little bit like saying, 'Oh, we have your dream. Would you like to do it, or not?'"
Much like her work with BookHampton, Coady and her management team are responsible for designing, stocking, and staffing the Middletown store, located at 413 Main Street. Beyond her tried and true notions of creating a space, engaging readers, employing a well-informed staff, and getting involved with the community, Coady is also excited to discover what compelling ingredients Middletown readers will fold into the successful R.J. Julia formula.
"What we're interested in is civil discourse, and conversation, and bringing to a reader the kind of reading that will either educate or distract or inform or provoke," says Coady. "And the Wesleyan academic community is a different community. It's more age-diverse. Its interests are quite liberal and culturally curious. So being able to serve that community, and understand all of that, is very appealing. And I think the sort of cross- pollination among the three stores will be to the best interest of all the stores."
That cross-pollination could bear fruit by bringing in new writers, adding new areas of interest and more books for all.
"We'll learn about books and writers from Middletown that we might not have gravitated to in Madison or East Hampton; but in fact might have readers in both our other stores that will be very interested in that," says Coady. "So I like the idea of exposing each audience to things they may be less familiar with."
Calling off her plan to sell the Madison store is one reason why Coady can dedicate herself anew.
"There was an ironic collateral credit, in that in making sure the store was salable, I worked hard to make sure the management team was self-sufficient. And by helping them become self-sufficient, I was relieved of the things I was sort of tired of doing; and it gave me more time to be strategic," says Coady.
From tracking trends to taking the pulse of those consistently shopping the shelves, Coady says her role at R.J. Julia's, including her time spent in Middletown, will be, "...to hold onto my role of being strategic."
"So I will be there to the extent that I need to understand the community and the customer and add that perspective to the management team, and that would be my objective," says Coady. "Just the same as when I'm meeting with the management team in Madison. We're looking at sections, and talking about what do we see as trends, what are people going to want more of or less of, and how do we respond?"
Keeping a finger on the pulse of their readers can show the team how to respond with books for trends on a vast spectrum of interests. It could be more people cooking at home, seeing an uptick in entertaining, or receiving requests for more biographies, to bringing in more history books to meet demand or adding more "distracting reading," Coady says.
"We're always trying to pay attention to our customers."
Creating a space where readers can discover books, attend lively events and visit with fascinating authors make the stores a microcosm for culture and community. To nurture the body as well as the mind, the Madison store incorporates the popular R.J. Café & Bistro. A similar type of casual eatery will be a part of the Middletown store.
Coady's read on her readers tells her that creating Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore doesn't have them worried she's spreading the R.J. Julia magic too thin.
"Here's what I'm hearing universally," says Coady. "One is people are relieved that I'm not selling the store, which was their worry several years ago. And I also think they're prideful of the store. So I don't think they're worried about being diluted to this market. I they're like, "Yeah! That's our store going there.'"
Making R.J. Julia "our store" was Coady's intent from the day she first opened the downtown Madison business at 768 Boston Post Road in 1990.
"I do think one of the things that's contributed to the longevity of R.J. Julia is the partnership with the community, but more particularly with the reader," says Coady. "We don't have a judgement on what you read. We're interested in hearing what you want to read about, and making sure we're making available. Are we going to push the envelope a little bit? Yes, but any business starts by being responsive to their customer. And I think that's what people understand about us. We don't have an agenda, other than them."
Through that focus, the organic creation of the R.J. Julia brand has truly blossomed.
"Did I set out to create a brand? Absolutely not. That never occurred to me," says Coady. "But I did set out to create a place that people would want to be in, and want to part of. And that's what's always driven us."