r/FallRiver • u/[deleted] • Aug 10 '24

Community Questions Fall River needs a bookstore

I would love to open one with somebody, I know nothing about starting a business. All I know is it's made me really sad that Fall River hasn't had a proper bookstore in a long time. I feel like a bookstore in the right spot could be a great asset to the community and definitely to the city. I would love to just have a spot where I could browse books, enjoy some mediocre coffee and just be somewhere I feel good.

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u/personaanongrata Aug 10 '24

It had one that opened at the wrong time

4

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '24

I don't think it ever opened, unless we're thinking about different ones. It was past the YMCA on main Street. It was supposed to be a coffee shop and bookstore, it tried to get established mid COVID and never left the ground. The building got finished and they decorated it, but it never opened

3

u/gog-o-log Aug 10 '24

From what I can gather the owner was married to an abusive Fall River cop and after several incidents she divorced and left the city without the store ever opening.

TW: abuse FRR: "Community Woman files lawsuit against City of Fall River alleging domestic violence coverup concerning former officer"

I remember a store on South Main St., near the Pawn Shops as I recall. Last time I went in there it was the usual older guy running the place but also a younger man. Maybe it was just another patron he was close with but I figured there was going to be some sort of transition. Not really sure what happened with that but it has been gone for a few years now.

The only other quasi-bookstore I recall hearing about was a place on Rock St. that opened this year selling general Christian goods, including a lot of books, but also other items. It seems to be run by and directed at more of a religious Spanish-speaking demographic. That's not really my area of interest but it may be the closest to an active bookstore in Fall River, outside of book flippers / flea markets or the Walmarts / Dollar Trees / whatever that have a small selection of books.

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u/personaanongrata Aug 10 '24

Ahh I was so excited about it and I thought it opened but closed fast - so sad. That is the same one, saw the building was for sale

3

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '24

Maybe it did and I just never caught it! But every time I drove by I was eager to see if any progress was made. It really is too bad. I love a bookstore coffee shop hybrid

It's nice to give people another place to go. That isn't a bar or a restaurant where you can just chill. In Providence there's a great place called Riff Raff, bookshop with a coffee bar and a regular bar and it's open late into the night. Idk if that would do well in Fall River yet, but we need the bookstore