SPRINGFIELD — This holiday season, customers of a local bakery can enjoy a beignet, biscuit, or pie while reading a book to help pass the time, courtesy of two East Forest Park residents.
Married couple Brett Albert and Kate Kreider will operate their indie bookstore, Rumspringa Books, at Granny’s Baking Table from Saturday through Christmas. The bookstore, at 309 Bridge St., will showcase the latest and greatest bestsellers, such as pop icon Britney Spears’ memoir, “The Woman in Me.”
Older best-sellers and personal favorites from the co-owners will also be on display, according to Albert.
On Friday evening, Albert and Kreider began stocking a few six-foot bookcases. bell hook’s “All About Love: New Visions,” J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” and Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” were among the collection of books they plan to sell. The couple planned to build and fill more bookcases over the weekend.
The co-owners intend to sell books Tuesdays through Saturdays. The staff from Granny’s will assist in selling books if neither co-owner is available.
Albert said he and his wife have been looking to create Rumspringa for the past year for different reasons, one of which is their love for independent bookstores.
Rumspringa’s target market is people who live in Springfield and are interested in community and storytelling. Albert said the owners want to serve every aspect of Springfield, which is why having their bookstore in the downtown is important.
“One of the things that made Springfield also very attractive was that it indexes people who love public media and also people who have higher education attainment,” Albert said.
The co-owners are putting final touches on the bookstore’s website, which should go live next week. On the website, people will be able to request a book, which one of the co-owners will personally deliver, Albert said. In the meantime, the business owners can be reached on Instagram.
Before the website is finalized, Albert wants to make clear that they are not going to operate in the same way Amazon does.
“If you have a specific title, we can’t get it as quickly as a major trillion-dollar company can get that for you,” he said, referring to Amazon, whose current market capitalization (the value of all shares) is $1.52 trillion. “We’re kind of reverting back to an older service model for the community.”
They acknowledge that there is a challenge in running an independent bookstore in downtown Springfield. With this in mind, he said their mission is to convince the public that these types of bookstores are worth visiting.
Todd Crosset, co-owner of Granny’s Baking Table, said he is excited about the upcoming collaboration between the bakery and Rumspringa Books. (Douglas Hook / MassLive)
The collaboration between the two businesses is the by-product of a work relationship between Albert and Todd Crosset, co-owner of Granny’s.
Albert worked as a teaching assistant for Crosset when he was a lecturer in the Sports Management Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A conversation between the two, specifically on the couple’s plan to debut their bookstore, led to the collaboration.
Crosset said that when co-owner Sonya Yelder first got into the business, the plan was to build a community in Springfield where everyone felt welcomed.
He said bookstores help bring communities together.
“Pastries, coffee, and books — it all kind of goes together,” he said. “I think it’s a nice collaboration.”
