Joey Bucher
Gabriela Medina, Buffalo Street Books employee, peruses the bookstore's diverse fiction collection that aims to reflect the interests of the community while also introducing new perspectives.
Bookstores have long been a place of inclusion, comfort and community, and the independent bookstores in Ithaca are no different. They are important spaces for the sharing of ideas, the connecting of communities and learning about the world.
The relationship between independent bookstores and the Ithaca community has been a long and symbiotic one. Buffalo Street Books, an independent bookstore in the Ithaca area, survived only due to the support of the community. Lisa Swayze, the executive director of Buffalo Street Books, said via email that after the bookstore almost shut down in 2011, the community came together and raised $250,000 to purchase the store from its previous owner. The store became a consumer cooperative, owned and managed by the members of the community it served. In Fall 2024, the store became a non-profit to further represent the mission of the bookstore.
“Buffalo Street Books only exists because of this community and everything we do is about serving the community through the books on our shelves, our partnerships with other schools, libraries, and organizations, book donations, and our comprehensive list of free programming and events,” Swayze said.
Ramsey Kanaan is a publisher for PM Press, an independent publisher that owns Autumn Leaves Books. Kanaan said the abundance of independent bookstores in Ithaca is due to the shared principles of promoting literacy and the spreading of information.
“What we all share in common is that ideas matter,” Kanaan said. “And not one single store, or not one single book, of course, can be the repository for all that is fantastic, wonderful and engaging, and those ideas.”
Bookstores are considered third spaces, which are places outside of work or home, where communities can gather and socialize. Bookstores are considered part of this category, which have been shutting down and declining rapidly over the years, according to an article from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.
Megan Graham, assistant professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College, said third places, especially independent bookstores, are deeply important to a community like Ithaca.
“We need spaces that aren’t home, that aren’t work, where we can congregate and talk about things that matter to us,” Graham said. “Bookstores and libraries … create spaces for performers to gain audiences, for authors to find readers and just for everybody to bond over the things that matter to us … The first step in having a healthy society is to have those kinds of spaces where people can connect to each other.”
Laura Larson, owner of Odyssey Bookstore, said bookstores serve as a third place with less pressure to spend money while there. Unlike a coffee shop or a restaurant, bookstores can offer a low-to-no cost space for social connection.
“Bookstores are really gorgeous third spaces, spaces that people can go into where you actually do not have to buy anything,” Larson said. “You go into a coffee shop, you really feel like, ‘I need to at least buy a coffee to be sitting here.’ Whereas [with] a bookstore, there’s just a long tradition of having a space that you’re welcomed into to browse, to wander through, and those are really important spaces … people crave that kind of casual interaction that comes from being in those spaces together.”
Prices at independent bookstores also factor into their importance in a community. Junior Anusha Bhargava said that they prefer to spend money at independent bookstores, not only for their lower prices, but also because they feel more secure in knowing where their money is going.
“In Barnes & Noble, the main factor for me is, it’s mad expensive,” Bhargava said. “I feel like most of my money is not [going to] go toward the author, and it’s really not [going to] help them. … It’s a lot more feasible for me as a student as well, because I’m already spending so much money on textbooks, I might as well just buy … cheaper books.”
Chris Hallam is the coordinator of the Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library Booksale, where hundreds of donated books are put on sale for very low prices, all under $5. Hallam said that things like the booksale are meant to put books in the hands of everyone, regardless of financial status.
“We need these places because it gets books in the hands of people that can’t afford [it],” Hallam said.
Independent bookstores are not only beneficial in their lower prices, but also in their ability to have many different titles across stores. Different bookstores may have a different reach to house specific genres or authors, so it is essential to have many bookstores with a variety of collections, Bhargava said.
Graham said they love the serendipity of what they find at bookstores, how many things can be found at independent bookstores that wouldn’t be available at a chain such as Barnes & Noble.
“Those bookstores are run by people who love books and literature and authors, and they want everyone to get access to cool things, and that’s just sort of like a natural difference,” Graham said. “A corporation can never love reading, and people love reading.”
Independent bookstores are often places that are meant to be welcoming and safe, and Buffalo Street Books is no exception. In the middle of the bookstore, there is a sign stating their commitment to making sure everyone feels safe and welcomed, regardless of race, gender or sexuality. Swayze said that the decision was meant to show all customers that they are supported and welcomed in the store.
“This is a community-owned store,” Swayze said. “I think any indie bookstore, the more it fills that role where everyone can feel welcome and see themselves on your shelves, the better job you’re doing.”
The air of inclusivity and welcoming atmosphere is not only promoted by these independent bookstores but also felt by members of the community. Junior Rachel Garrity said she finds a lot of diversity on the shelves of independent bookstores, such as her favorite independent bookstore, Odyssey.
“It is very important to see yourself in all these books,” Garrity said. “I’ve found a lot more of my personal identities represented at independent bookstores.”
The Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College sponsored talks at the worked with Buffalo Street Books and other independent bookstores to organize the Ithaca is Books Festival which was organized by Buffalo Street Books as well as other independent bookstores and was held from Sept. 11-14.
Mickey Huff, distinguished director of PCIM, said that independent bookstores are places of civic engagement, and it is important to have a dissemination of information from places independent of large corporations.
“Independent bookstores, I think, are hubs for thought,” Huff said. “They’re hubs for discourse, they’re hubs for disagreement. They’re places where people can gather. … They’re really part of the community … and I think that’s what’s really important, is because people look at reading as a solitary event, and I think that it’s really a community event.”
Kanaan said that having spaces where the sharing of thoughts and ideas is occurring is deeply beneficial to a community.
“Ideas actually matter, and books … historically … have been the main way that ideas are conveyed,” Kanaan said. “The more ideas that are out there, the more conversations that are happening, the more stories that are being engaged with, the better for everyone.”