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At the end of June 1986, James Roberts and his wife went for a walk in their new neighborhood, Eastwood, in Syracuse. They passed a help-wanted sign on the front of a small, paperback-only bookstore, and Roberts decided to apply for the job. He bought the store, today known as Books End, a year later.

“Totally serendipitous,” Roberts said. “I worked here for the previous owner for two weeks, then I went home and told my wife this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.”

Over the last 37 years, the store has become a staple of the community. In 2023, Roberts passed the baton to Patrick McGrath, who started operating the store on Aug. 14. When Books End announced the change in ownership, Roberts was flooded with love for the store. While patrons saw his store as a fixture of the community, Roberts said he didn’t realize the impact it had.

“It’s bittersweet. I’m obviously excited to get the next part of my life and do whatever I do there,” Roberts said. “But I’ll miss it, too. I’ve been doing this for 37 years, and I love it.”

One long-time customer, Brian Fitzgerald, considers the store part of his “circuit.” He visits certain stores in the neighborhood, like the Salvation Army, with his friends.

“When I’m hanging out with my guy friends, like, ‘What are we gonna do?’ ‘I haven’t been in the Books End,’ so we’ll go, we’ll poke around and just hang out,” Fitzgerald said.

Books End has consistently been on his route around the neighborhood. He’s been coming to the store for over 20 years with his father and brother and has a set routine for his visits. Starting at the front with graphic novels, he then skips the fiction section and makes his way around back to the store’s featured displays.

Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

For Syracuse book lovers, Books End is a necessary stop when walking through James Street. The bookstore sells used books and magazines and serves a community of devoted customers. Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

Before McGrath owned the store, he remembers walking up and down the aisles and the distinct smell of old books. Like Roberts, he lives in the area and found out that the store was for sale when a friend sent him an Instagram post about it. In college, he studied small business management at West Chester University before switching to literature, so owning a bookstore combined two of his interests.

“The first thing I want to do is just really continue the good work Jim and Anne Marie have done,” McGrath said. “They’ve shepherded this business for decades, so I want to learn what they did so I can keep it going for decades to come.”

Daniel MacDowell has been coming to this bookstore since before McGrath and even Roberts were the owners. He walks two miles twice a month to the bookstore from his house, a trip he has been making since the 1970s.

He frequents several local bookstores and enjoys visiting Books End especially because of its used, vintage selection. It brings up nostalgia and memories of magazines and books he hasn’t seen since his teens. MacDowell considers himself a “book person.”

Roberts, a self-described “book person” himself, said that book people are great people. He described his store, along with bookstores in general, as “marketplaces of ideas.” In a time when some people want to ban books in this country, he added, bookstores are like canaries in a coal mine.

McGrath said used bookstores are landmarks. With dog-eared pages and underlining, readers get a glimpse of all the people who have read it before their time, he added.

“A local used bookstore lives and thrives because of the community, and then we add a lot to the community,” McGrath said. “A place for people to go and get books and maybe find something they never thought to read before.”

Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

MacDowell browses the store often, but still finds new things to look at. He said physically finding a book is important to him, in comparison to buying them online.

“It’s neat seeing it because it’s like the same thing (as) going to a flea market and digging through something then bingo, it’s a treasure,” MacDowell said.

English teacher and Books End customer Connie Myers also has a penchant for the tangible feel of a book. She likes being able to actually browse a personal bookshelf when she wants something to read.

Myers was introduced to Books End by her boyfriend, Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald holds fond memories of his father’s relationship with Roberts, who would often negotiate with the former owner about selling antique books. The two had respect for each other’s business and exemplified the community connection the bookstore maintains, Roberts said.

“(Roberts) was always very professional,” Fitzgerald said. “They didn’t bicker, they had such a working relationship that they knew what (each other) was going to give for each book.”

Roberts has experienced the community aspect of used bookstores in other ways as well. Throughout his time owning Books End, the memory that touched Roberts the most was a moment during the start of the pandemic.

While Roberts couldn’t let anyone into Books End and was working alone all day, the community rallied around the store. They ordered books to be shipped, picked them up at curbside and quietly kept the store going.

Roberts said that for a bookstore to be successful, there has to be a personal connection between the owner and the books they sell. The best teacher he’s had in the business is his customers themselves.

He said the more connected a seller is to his customers, the more fun the job becomes. For him, there is no better feeling than a customer walking in and asking for a book that is right on the shelf.

“(McGrath) will put his personal stamp on the store, as he should. Because you have to, you have to love the work that you’re doing here,” Roberts said. “It’s not a carwash. There has to be some level of personal involvement in the store.”

McGrath plans to do community outreach with students, local artists and other groups in the community. One idea he has is to partner with local poets or authors to do readings at the store.

McGrath said that Roberts has left a big hole to fill with Books End. They have been working together through the transition as Roberts visits several times a week, and Roberts’ staff has stayed with the store.

“It has just really made me happy to be part of (people’s bookstore experiences) and to see friendly faces come in, and people I know,” McGrath said. “To meet the people that have been regulars long before I came here … It’s been really rewarding for me.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that James Roberts had owned Books End for 55 years after purchasing it in 1967. That was incorrect; Roberts had owned the store for 36 years after purchasing it in 1987. The Daily Orange regrets this error. Updated August 29th at 1:50p.m.

Published on August 27, 2023 at 10:37 pm