When Kevin Christner first heard that WestSide Stories on Grant Street was closing, and liquidating its books, he called co-owner Joe Petri and asked if he could purchase the store name, the books, and relocate to a building down the street that he owned with his real estate partner.
A deal was made, and a beloved used bookstore was saved.
“I really didn’t want to see a great neighborhood anchor store go away,” said Christner. “I own a lot of property in the area, and decided that there was an opportunity to do something good for the street. For me, this is a hobby business. My real estate partner and I already owned the building, so it made sense. We sent out an email to our 40 tenants to tell them that Grant Street would still be home to WestSide Stories. Everyone was very happy, which is the main reason that I did it.”
Christner is an economic historian by academic training. He’s spent his entire life with his head in the books. Therefore, he understands just how important it is to get as many books into the hands of people as possible.
After acquiring the book stock from Petri (who still owns Gather & Game on Grant Street), Christner began to look for additional books to fill the shelves of the new shop. He sourced a lot through social media. The books that were reasonably priced went to the bookstore, while the more expensive collectibles are being sold online. Christner wanted to keep the books at the Grant Street location on the approachable end. The average price of a book is $5. Some of the kids books are as low as $1.
While Christner is happy selling affordable books on Grant Street, he has come across some very rare books via his online travels. One of his recent significant purchases was a first edition book of Emily Dickinson poems, which he paid four figures for. The book is considered a ‘one of one.’
“It’s mind-blowing,” said Christner. “I got the message when I was at a conference in Miami. The focus of the conference was on NFTs. I learned that there were only 400 copies of the book printed, and this copy had the bookplate from Waldo Higginson, who was the brother of Emily’s editor. I couldn’t believe that I was at an NFT conference, and talking to someone about a book of this nature. It’s the extreme opposite [laughing].”
Christner told me that he believes that he is one of only two people in Buffalo willing to pay market price for books of such significance. He’s regularly handling books that predate the Civil War. He’s also interested in hard-to-find Buffalo books, because of his love for this city. While that might be a relatively small market, he does get excited when he comes across books such as the 1866 History of Erie County, which he recently purchased.
During his opening day, this past Saturday, Christner had the Dickinson book on display at the shop. In the future, he plans on putting similar prized possessions on display – rare and interesting books that people will be excited to learn more about.
Aside from the mounting collection of books in the shop, Christner also bought Poster Art’s poster inventory. So there are a lot of interesting Buffalo posters for sale.
This summer, Christner will be setting up a patio on the side of the building, where he will feature a couple of pop-up tents. The tents will be reservable for free*, to local makers and others who he feels can contribute to the energy and livelihood of the street – a street that he is very excited about, despite some setbacks from the pandemic. As we spoke, he started rifling-off different names of businesses that he felt greatly contributed to the street, including Freddy J’s, West Side Bazaar, Gypsy Parlor… and he hopes to see the Sweet_ness 7 corner occupied sooner rather than later.
“The excellent Ease of Doing Business Index of Grant Street is important,” said Christner. “You won’t find many BANANAS over here.”
For those who are not aware of what a BANANA is, it’s like a NIMBY but worse – Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything or Anybody. Yes, they are out there, but mostly in the Elmwood Village where they tend to thrive.
Along with posters and books, Christner is serving up coffees and espressos for $2, sparking water, and offers free cold water to thirsty customers. Doggie water bowls are on the way, as the shop is dog friendly.
Not only is it exciting to see WestSide Stories back in business, it’s also great to see this refurbished building occupied with a sensational tenant who will take care of the corner. News of Christner and his bookstore kinda came out of the blue – totally off the radar, before swooping in and saving the day. And that’s the way we like it sometimes.
WestSide Stories | 398 Grant Street | Buffalo, NY 14213 | info@westside-stories.com
Days and hours: T-F 1pm-7pm | Sat 11am-7pm
*Anyone interested in learning more about the free pop-up opportunities can contact Christner through Facebook Messenger.