BRATTLEBORO — Nancy Braus was flipping through 1984 — the year, not the dystopian novel — when she decided to take on the establishment by opening an alternative bookstore.
The longtime peace and anti-nuclear activist knew the town already hosted two literary landmarks: 1. The Book Press factory, which was printing 750,000 volumes a week (including then-local John Irving’s “The World According to Garp”), and 2. the Book Cellar, which had peddled bestsellers to loyal customers ever since artist Norman Rockwell appeared at the downtown shop’s 1948 opening.
As then-first lady Nancy Reagan was “Just Saying No,” Braus wanted to offer something different: a counterculture option that shouted yes to progressive politics, social justice and environmental awareness. And so she stocked a side-street storefront with paperbacks, periodicals and posters and opened the business as Everyone’s Books.
Four decades later, the local landscape is seemingly unrecognizable. The Book Press, which once worked round-the-clock to produce enough copies of the Harry Potter book series, closed as part of a corporate consolidation in 2000. The Book Cellar, which boasted an autographed photo of Robert Frost, shut when fire decimated the shop in 2011.
Braus is as surprised as anyone that her alternative bookstore now stands as one of the sole reminders of the town’s once-heady literary heyday. (It now operates alongside several used and specialty-title shops, including Brattleboro Books, Antidote Books and Book Lovers.) To ensure the locally owned independent continues in an Amazon world, the soon-to-be 70-year-old is passing it on to a new generation.
“I thought, ‘I’ve been doing this a long time. Maybe I’ll be able to transition, but only if I find exactly the right person,’” she said in a recent interview.
Enter Red Durkin, a 40-year-old California resident with a resume selling new and used books in small and large stores on both coasts. Visiting friends in Brattleboro, she heard Braus was interested in retiring.
“I was looking for a small, close-knit community where I could put down roots and have a purpose,” Durkin said.
And so she introduced herself to the store owner.
“Our staff is totally quirky,” Braus said. “Finding someone that fits in is not an easy task.”
But the founder quickly surmised Durkin was “one of us” and sold the business to her in October.
Everyone’s Books — which opened at a smaller location on Elliot Street before moving a half-dozen doors down to its current space in 1993 — was born in the prehistoric era before the internet. The store has since plugged into the world through a website and social media, but it continues to revolve around books, greeting cards, calendars, campaign pins and personal service.
“We certainly didn’t think we’d be in the place we’re in now,” Braus said.
Neither did most other merchants in downtown Brattleboro, which is reeling from a recent string of closing notices for such longtime anchors as the Hotel Pharmacy after 83 years, Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters after 92 years, and the former Vermont National Bank turned Chittenden, People’s United and M&T Bank after 150 years.
But yet again, Everyone’s Books is aiming to buck the trend.
“If I know one thing about New Englanders, it’s that they love it when people from California come in with new ways of doing things,” Durkin joked. “The store has been working just fine as it is. I want to keep the same staff. I want to keep the same inventory. My vision is to continue as it has been and grow in ways that might improve it. I know it’s a treasured part of the community.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story failed to acknowledge used and specialty bookstores in Brattleboro.
