Brookline Booksmith To Open 'Kitchen' Soon Amid Pandemic

BROOKLINE, MA — Despite the pandemic, Brookline Booksmith is expanding into the space formerly occupied by Verizon two doors down, including adding a kitchen with food and wine and coffee in partnership with a Brookline Village cheese shop owner.

The plan is to open The Novel Kitchen by Curds & Co. next week, according to Booksmith co-manager Lisa Gozashti.

After nearly 60 years in Coolidge Corner, the Brookline Booksmith announced last winter it planned to add a cafe to its book and gift store. The original plan envisioned the space as a cafe and events area, but the pandemic prompted a re-think.

The iconic bookstore had to close to the public for several weeks in March. They kept the lights on, fielding online orders, and set up a curbside pick up window for people to pickup orders without coming inside. But they also had to furlough a number of employees. Gozashti didn't have an exact number, but, she said, they were able to rehire most.

"We've modified significantly,"Gozashti said.

Pre-pandemic they had visions of adding a fireplace and hosting events with cozy cocktails, she said. But that was a different world.

"What we did with this is we tried to lean into the circumstances we find ourselves in," she said. "We want to still find that sense of succor, and something genuine and fresh and unexpected -something that provides a sense of life and community, but largely to-go."

So, the Novel Kitchen is not a restaurant, she said. It's not a cafe, either. Brookline Village's Curds & Co, artisanal cheese shop owner Jenn Mason is behind this.

A job postings describes the kitchen as an "innovative eatery, conceived and built for the 'new normal' where we long for unique experiences and togetherness."

Guests can pick up bento box of specialty, artisanal foods for eat-in at one of eight small tables, or take it, or a bottle of wine to go.

"Its's an extension of the store," said Gozashti.

Bookstore goers will still enter through the old entrance, but they now will be routed past the expanded cook book section and children's section and some other key sections and the store to the back of the old store where a pathway takes them into the new 4,000 sq ft space. The check-out is in that space, and so is the exit.

In addition to more books and gifts, spread out so that browsers have more room to keep 6 feet from one another, you can have a cup of coffee or glass of wine, said Gozashti. The wine, like the space is distinctive and organic she said.

The cafe space was allotted 45 seats earlier this year but they have been paired that down to eight tables of two 6 feet from one another. The store will be open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Sunday, though the Kitchen's last call is 7 p.m. Sunday.

Gozashti describes the vibe as charming, bare, genuine and Scandinavian while encapsulating the store's larger mission of being a community space.

"There's something pretty special and inspiring in it," she said.

Gozashti said it was a combination of community support amid the pandemic, and part the bookstore's ethos that helped it have the confidence to go forward with the decision to expand at a time of unprecedented uncertainty.

Another aspect was that when the opportunity to rent the space came open nearly a year ago, it was not lost on the store that it was a once in a lifetime offer.

"Leap and the net will appear, that's the zen proverb," Gozashti said. "And we knew that we would do everything safely. So we felt like it was an opportunity that we couldn't turn away."

Gozashti said the goal is to provide a place of hope for people and a place where there's still light community and joy.

And even if the next few weeks are lean, and the store has to shut down again?

"We'll all still feel good that we took the opportunity," said Gozashti. "We just feel like we can grow and deepen the offering that we have always made to the community."

It's not been without hardship, and long hard hours among staff. But the community has been rallying to ensure the Booksmith feels the love, through purchases of gift cards, by telling friends and family to buy from them and being patient as the store pivots. When the Booksmith came before the Board of Selectmen earlier this year to get their licenses, they were met with a robust round of applause. It's moving, said Gozashti.

"It's a privilege and it's a gift that we're in a position that we're in as a result of the incredible support of the community." Gozashti said. It feels crazy and uncertain, but it also feels joyful and hopeful."

Previously:

Brookline Booksmith To Expand, Add Bistro Cafe

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.