Entering through the backdoor of Booktrader of Hamilton, visitors see books packed tightly onto shelves, stacked on the floor, piled in the corners and scattered around the register. It’s a true reader’s haven: a neighborhood bookstore.
It’s hard to remember what a real bookstore feels like–the little store on the neighborhood corner that you only know is a bookstore because the smell of musty pages hits you as you’re walking along. The Booktrader of Hamilton can help you remember.
All paperbacks—new and old—at the Booktrader of Hamilton sell for half their cover cost, and hardcovers go for $5. Store owner Joan Silvestro also accepts books for store credit. Customers get 20 percent of the retail price on paperback books in credit, and can use store credit for half of a purchase from the store.
That has appealed to people, especially within in the last two years. The bookstore has seen a lot more people coming in with the struggling economy. All this delights Silvestro, mainly, she said, because she can share her love with others.
Silvestro had been a loyal customer of the store when previous owner Donna Benson put a “For Sale” sign up in the window eight years ago. Silvestro knew her dream job was born.
“Joan is just great,” longtime customer Lisa O’Neill said. “She has a passion for what she does, and when you go in there, it’s something you can feel. There’s nothing like her. There’s nothing else around that near equals what she can offer people.”
Frequent customer Jill Labbancz said Silvestro is the main reason for her loyalty to Booktrader of Hamiltion.
“Joan is a great, likeable, people-friendly person,” Labbancz said. “She knows a lot about books and is very personable and informative. She just wants you to have the best experience.”
Labbancz said the friendly atmosphere is what sets Booktrader of Hamilton apart from most bookstores.
“Of course you can get into a conversation with someone at a place like Borders, but it’s not the same,” she said. “I feel rushed there. Joan takes her time to make suggestions and point you in the right direction. It’s important to her that you have a great experience.”
The relationship Silvestro’s customers have with her is a two-way street.
“I have—and I say this with the most sincerity—the best customers in the world,” she said. “We have a lot of regulars that I see at least every week, some I see a couple times a week. It’s cool because I get to know them, so when a book comes in that I know they would like, I’ll put it aside for them. There are people who come in who have become my friends, not just my customers.”
Whenever a customer is struggling to find a book at the Booktrader of Hamilton, Silvestro steps in to the rescue.
“She will get you anything,” O’Neill said. “If she can’t find it for you, she’ll track it down.”
It’s no secret that Silvestro takes pride in her store and herself as a bookseller.
“We’re not a business like Barnes and Noble. It’s not all about money,” Silvestro said. “I love what I do; I love what I sell.”
Silvestro will often ask customers a few questions while they are in her store, and then use the responses to quickly recommend a book that she thinks they will enjoy.
“There is usually a book for everybody. I love turning kids onto reading. It’s all about finding their niche, finding their interest,” she said.
O’Neill compared walking in the Booktrader of Hamilton’s doors to walking into a treasure box.
“Every time I pick up a book I think it’s more interesting than the next,” she said.
Silvestro smiled thinking back on some of her best found treasures.
“A while back, someone brought in History of Religious Life,” Silvestro said. “It was gorgeous. It was huge and made of gilded leather with amazing illustrations.”
Silvestro also recalled a gentleman cleaning out his aunt’s house in Connecticut a few years ago. He brought in a large garbage bag full of books. In it, she found Pink and White Tyranny by Harriet Beecher Stowe. “It’s not a book that’s worth a lot of money, but it’s from 1871,” she said. “That’s just so interesting to me.”
The Booktrader of Hamilton isn’t only filled with old books. Silvestro said that her store gets bombarded with a lot of the more popular, recent novels by authors like James Patterson or Nora Roberts.
“If somebody likes a certain author, most bookstores only have one or two of their current books. Here, you’ll usually be able to find them all,” she said.
Since Silvestro bought the shop, she relocated across the street, doubling its space. The additional room still may not be able to hold all the books at the Booktrader of Hamilton, but it did allow Silvestro to start a book club at the store.
“I started the club because I talk to people as they come in, and we gab, and a crowd sometimes forms around the counter,” Silvestro said. “From there, I decided to pick a night to do the same thing, only where everyone can sit down and not have to stop whenever I’d have to ring up a customer.”
O’Neill said the book club has become a night she hates to miss.
“We have a great time. The books become like stories that we exchange,” O’Neill said. “It becomes a wonderful sharing opportunity.”
Silvestro said the book club allows her to enjoy one of her favorite parts of owning a bookstore: her customers.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Silvestro said. “We don’t all read the same book, because to me, that’s like a book report. Everybody usually brings a snack or refreshments. It’s casual. It’s a night out.”
Book clubs are held on select Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. and are open to everyone.
Booktrader of Hamilton is open Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The store is located at 2421 Nottingham Way in Hamilton. For more information, or to check for the next book club meeting, visit booktrader.weebly.com/index.html or call (609) 890-1455.
Booktrader of Hamilton owner Joan Silvestro stands among the books at her Mercerville store. (Photo by Kait Kelly.)
