I have never seen any bookstore like this anywhere. It deserves its own Wikipedia page.
Single owner, The Book Barn is spread across three sites in this small (pop. 3,000) Connecticut town. It only sells used books. The main venue is on property fronting the main street through Niantic. What I assume is the owner's stone home is recessed from the street. He walks to work, which sprawls across his front lawn with a three-story main bookstore, large open air stalls and a separate out building containing, as I recall the mystery collection. The open air stalls are astounding to find in a book store in the Northeastern climate. They reminded me a bit of the book stalls along the Seine in Paris. Several cats, perfect reading, writing companions, are in and out of the main store--the company logo is a silhouette of a seated black cat. There is a small petting zoo and a few playground rides for children on the grounds, some small gardens and a couple of outdoor reading alcoves with benches. Man, I had NEVER seen a bookstore like this lol.
Anytime I go into any bookstore just to browse, that is, without a fixed purchase in mind, it's a bit overwhelming. I could spend hours; in my visit to The Book Barn my conductress was my (second, ex) wife. It was cold, she got cold, so I had to move quickly. It is to The Book Barn's unique credit that each member of their staff has their own list of recommended books on shelving right in the front door. And...the staff also writes books. Well, I never.
Conscious of my ex-wife's time and cold I was extremely fortunate to have one of the staff, I believe the owner Glenn, ask me if I was looking for anything in particular. When I said no, he pointed me to his shelf of recommendations and picked out Paul Fussell's The Great War and Modern memory, a book that I know by reputation and had wanted to read for a long time. "This explains why World War I changed everything," Glenn said. I bought it.
I had to leave and after a brief showing of the stalls and mystery house by my conductress my time was up and we left. I'm done, with no ending in mind. The Book Barn is unique. The end.
