On a chilly Sunday afternoon in Brockton, Mayor Robert Sullivan sat in a cozy corner of a new bookstore on Main Street and read a bilingual children’s book to a couple dozen patrons and staff.
“I’m so proud to be able to come and meet the children because you’re the next generation,” he said. “There’s so much within your grasp. But you know what? It starts with reading … reading will bring you so much happiness as a youngster, as an adolescent, and as an older adult.”
The mayor had arrived to celebrate the opening of the Dr. Ellie Paris Social Bookstore and Ice Cream Cafe, a new storefront shop intended to encourage literacy and social networking particularly among Brockton’s large immigrant population.
The book he read, “Tiagu and Vovo”, is written in English and Cape Verdean Creole and tells the story of an immigrant family learning the new language.
Ellie Paris-Miranda, the owner of the shop and an immigrant from Cape Verde herself, said having the mayor reading this book symbolizes why she wanted to open a bookstore.
“I really want to foster literacy, education, and upward economic mobility through giving communities access to not only books, but also a network,” she said. “How can I be intentional to create opportunities for meaningful relationships and connections?”
In her other job, Paris-Miranda is a tenure-track assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Wheaton College in Norton.
“There’s this positive correlation between building successful business with the quality of the network, the relationships that you have that can be used as a financial resource,” she said. “Especially for low income people, starting businesses and women who often don’t have all the resources needed.”
I really want to foster literacy, education, and upward economic mobility through giving communities access to not only books, but also a network.Dr. Ellie Paris-Miranda, bookshop owner
The shop is just a few blocks from city hall and the courthouse, so she hopes her neighborhood customers will rub elbows and get to know city leaders over a sandwich or an ice cream cone.
True to her own roots, Paris-Miranda’s shop shelves prominently feature books about financial planning and business strategy, as well as books in a variety of languages.
She also refers to her customers as clients.
“‘Customer,’ I feel like it’s more transactional. My ‘clients’ are like long-term relationships I am building,” she said.
Eventually, Paris-Miranda said, she plans to teach English classes at the shop, as well as other programming on entrepreneurship and personal finance.
The new bookstore is riding a wave of new interest in local bookshops, said Beth Ineson, executive director of the New England Independent Booksellers Association.
We’ve had such a boom in eastern New England since basically 2020 for bookstores opening.Beth Ineson, the New England Independent Booksellers Association
“We’ve had such a boom in eastern New England since basically 2020 for bookstores opening,” Ineson said. “It’s been pretty dynamic to watch it happen and exciting. We’ve had as many new stores join my organization in the past four years as the previous ten combined.”
She said they’ve had about 35 new stores join the association in the past few years, whereas previously they would see two or three new stores in a year.
Greater Boston got three new stores in a month. The week before Ellie Paris’ grand opening, JustBook-ish, which calls itself a “literary gathering space and cafe,” opened in Boston’s Fields Corner. The week before that, The Next Chapter Books and More, a book and gift ship, opened its doors in Quincy Center.
Part of the reason for this boom, Ineson said, is that the pandemic left many storefronts vacant, making commercial real estate more affordable. But another part of it is the need for community.
“It is really on everybody’s mind now how these stores can become places for community and for intellectual engagement,” she said. “And, you know, that third place that everybody is looking to find in their lives.”
In Brockton, the Ellie Paris Social Bookstore replaces an empty storefront with the sound of chatter and a smoothie blender.
Mark Stanton, a lifelong Brockton resident and member of the city’s Beautification Committee, said he hopes the new bookstore can be an engine for downtown revitalization.
“To me, this could be a catalyst to just, you know, really bring the downtown back,” he said. “There’s a couple shops right up the street. If somebody comes in here, they walk up to the store in the next block. And it’s just great.”
