Here's One For The Books

JOHN T. SCHIFFMAN '62, Tu'63, COULD not imagine the town of Hanover without the Dartmouth Bookstore.

So he bought it.

The sale, which closed in June, both preserves a downtown landmark and promises significant changes: an experienced college bookstore operator handling day-to-day business (Barnes & Noble College Booksellers Inc.), the return of textbooks and Starbucks coffee.

"It was a business that had a tremendous amount of opportunity," says Schiffman, an accountant who has lived in Hanover for 35 years. He started talking with the former owner and manager, Anne Stebbins Cioffi (descendant of the stores 19th-century founder), and her husband, David Cioffi, about a year ago, and became convinced that the other bidders didn't plan to provide Dartmouth and Hanover with what he calls "a world- class bookstore."

"We're just trying to deliver to the community what it's entitled to," he says.

Dartmouth joins Harvard, Yale and about 500 other campuses that have bookstores operated by Barnes & Noble College Booksellers—a company that operates independently of Barnes & Noble—but you won't see that name in Schiffman's store. "The brand is the Dartmouth Bookstore," he says.

After a year-plus absence, textbooks went on sale September 19. The store will carry all books on all professors' syllabi, says Jade Roth, vice president of books and e-commerce at Barnes & Noble College Booksellers.

Schiffman and executives from the book retailer met with College administrators and faculty while drawing up plans and the new bibliography. Schiffman has also convened what he calls a community advisory board. Its six members include Robert Sokul, emeritus professor of sociology, Dartmouth Co-op owner Eugene Kohn '6O and realtor Bob Haynes '73.

The ground floor showcases a Starbucks counter and cafe seating just inside the Main Street entrance. Windows along Allen Street and on the second floor that had been boarded up have been opened up to help create a "spacious and certainly lighter environment," Roth says. There will also be display tables and seating throughout the store for those who want to read or do research.

We find that the more welcoming a bookstore is, the more time people want to spend there, which, of course, is our goal," says Roth.

Later hours are also expected to encourage shoppers, though just how much later than the former 6 p.m. closing will depend on customer traffic, Roth says.

Owner in Chief A former Dartmouthhead cheerleader, Schiffman is nowrooting for the Dartmouth Bookstore.

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "You're about to discover new worlds... [For me] skimming through the course catalog was like looking at a Denny's menu late at night. Everything looked good and I was probably picking the wrong thing." -MICHAELARAD '91, ARCHITECT OF THE PLANNED WORLD TRADE CENTER MEMORIAL, SPEAKING AT CONVOCATION SEPTEMBER 21