In the story of Needham bookstores, nearly two decades passed between chapters.
In February, The Book Shop of Needham made its debut in a brick building on Chestnut Street. Owner Hayley Stokes believes it’s the first full-scale bookstore the suburb of about 30,000 has seen since 2007, when its Waldenbooks outpost closed.
Stokes, a mom of three, moved to Needham several years ago from Wellesley. “I was like, ‘Any day now, someone’s going to open a bookstore in this town,’” she said. “A couple years ago, I decided if no one opens one soon, I’m just going to do it.”
So she did — along with her husband, Daniel, a restaurateur behind the now-closed Red Bird in Waltham. Stokes hadn’t been looking for a lease long when she came across the 1,450-square-foot space on Chestnut Street, a former vintage shop she had once patronized and admired for its natural light and floor plan that wasn’t just “one big rectangle,” she said.
“I never thought it would come up,” she said. “When I saw the lease sign [last] summer, I was shocked, and it was like out of a movie. I slammed on my brakes and turned in.”
The build-out was minimal — she “wanted to work with the character and the charm of the space.” That meant putting a seating area in the center of the store, with wraparound bookcases organized by genre. A nook Stokes calls the “children’s den” has titles for every age — picture books, chapter books, middle-grade, and young adult. Already, several authors have held events in the shop, and soon the store will begin hosting a weekly children’s story-time on Sunday mornings, Stokes said.
Opening the shop feels like something of a full-circle moment for Stokes, who said she grew up in a family of bibliophiles. After graduating from Boston College with a degree in elementary education, she thought of writing children’s books, but ended up working for M/C Communications, which produced conferences around the country. That job involved plenty of traveling — usually with a good book by her side. When she left her job to be a stay-at-home mom, reading “became something that I always did to kind of ground myself and calm myself,” said Stokes, 49.
She fantasized about owning a bookstore long before it was her reality, and the romance of it isn’t lost on her. “People come in often and say, ‘You’re living my dream,’” she said. But it’s also a heavy lift — literally. “On a daily basis, we’re lugging boxes and boxes around. You’re constantly up and down stairs,” she said.
It’s been worth it. After their grand opening on Feb. 7 — in the middle of a snowstorm, no less — “we are very busy on a daily basis,” Stokes said, often with young families. Already, there are repeat customers, she said, with her staff always ready to offer recommendations.
And the story isn’t over yet. Another bookstore, Chapters on Chestnut, is slated to open just just a few blocks away away this fall, according to the Needham Observer.
“Immediately, the first thought that popped into my head . . . was like, ‘Great, we’ll be the book district,’” Stokes said. “I think it’s wonderful for the town. I just hope that we are different enough from each other to both survive, and so we’ll just wait and see.”
For now, Stokes, is looking forward to hosting a shindig at the shop for Independent Bookstore Day on April 25, with book signings, raffles, and a discount deal planned.
“Everyone in this town is terrific — and they love books," she said. “I knew it. We knew it.”
283 Chestnut St., Needham; thebookshopofneedham.com
Dana Gerber can be reached at dana.gerber@globe.com. Follow her @danagerber6.