COVER to start new chapter with renovation, used bookstore

By LIZ SAUCHELLI

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 03-04-2023 8:43 PM

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — South Main Street mainstay COVER Home Repair is undergoing a renovation that will bring something old, but also new, to downtown White River Junction: a used bookstore.

“There’s no dedicated bookstore here, and there’s no public library in downtown White River Junction,” Helen Hong, executive director of the nonprofit home repair organization, said in a phone interview last week.

The used bookstore is one part of a renovation project that includes moving the home repair offices, installing a new woodshop and creating a single space for home repair work. The bookshop and office entrances will face South Main Street, allowing for easy access from the sidewalk. Previously, those spaces were primarily used for storage.

“It wasn’t addressing this vibrancy,” in downtown White River Junction, Hong said in an interview at COVER on Friday. “It felt like a missed opportunity.”

Renovations started in November, and the new woodshop is in use. The project, which is expected to cost around $100,000, is primarily being done by staff and volunteers with materials donated from area businesses. Hong said the goal is to have the bookstore open by late summer and the rest of the work completed in October. There are also plans in the works to put a mural on the south-facing wall of the brick building.

The building is part of the White River Junction Historic District and was built in 1908. It was a meat packing business until the 1960s, according to a brochure about the historic district. Before COVER moved in in the late 1990s, it was the home of Catamount Brewery. There were a lot of smaller, somewhat awkward-sized spaces that made it challenging for staff to store building materials while also operating a busy retail space.

“It was driving me crazy how the building was,” said Jay Mead, COVER’s home repair field director, who has a background in architecture.

With the renovation, all the supplies Mead needs will be stored in one space: “I feel so inspired by what we have going on right now.”

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The bookstore also will help free up space in the retail store, which mostly sells donated furniture, household goods and quite a few books. Store manager Jamie Loura is quite excited about the shelf space that will be freed up when the books are moved.

“(We’re) putting them in a space where they can be appreciated on their own,” she said during an interview at the store. “Right now, it’s very secondary that people notice that we have books.”

Over the past few years, the nonprofit organization has seen a surge in the amount of books being donated. The used bookstore will be 23 feet by 17 feet, according to architectural plans.

“It would increase the inventory by two or three times what we can currently have,” Hong said in a phone interview.

Currently, the books are mostly concentrated in a wide hallway that connects the front part of the retail store to a large room in the back of the building where furniture is located. Loura isn’t quite sure what will be put there once the books move.

It will, however, allow space for more donations.

“When that space is available, there will be less no’s that we have to say,” she said.

Since COVER announced its plans for a used bookstore, potential volunteers have reached out eager to offer their time, said Jeff Dumont, COVER’s community engagement director.

White River Junction hasn’t had a public library since May 2001, when Gates Memorial Library, now the home of the Good Neighbor Health Clinic, was closed. The Main Street Museum has a reading room, and the Center for Cartoon Studies has the Schulz Library for its students. Kishka Gallery features art books for visitors, but there hasn’t been a bookstore in White River Junction since the Hundredth Monkey, and then its short-lived follower, anthologie, closed not too many years after the Gates Library.

“People are so excited about it,” Dumont said. During a tour, he pointed out a loft space that might be devoted to children’s books.

Windows will also be added to the South Main Street facade, making it appear more like a storefront.

“There will be a lot more light,” Dumont said.

PJ Skehan, executive director of the Hartford Area Chamber of Commerce, said COVER’s renovation fits in well with all that’s been happening on South Main Street.

In the past, people might not have always made it down that way, instead opting for the right-hand turn off Main Street and toward Northern Stage.

There are a plethora of thriving businesses past that turn, Skehan said, citing Big Fatty’s BBQ, Elixir, River Roost Brewery, Trail Break Taps + Tacos, White River Growpro and newly open Putnam’s vine/yard.

“There’s a demand for a used bookstore, for sure. How big of a demand that is, we’ll see,” he said during a phone interview. “It kind of belongs in a place like White River Junction. People like to stroll around.”

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.

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