The Bear & Bee entrance on Holden Street in North Adams
The entrance to the Bear & Bee on Holden Street in North Adams, Mass. Photo courtesy of The Bear & Bee

BUSINESS MONDAY: Spotlight on The Bear & Bee

The curious path to opening an independent bookshop in North Adams

North Adams — When Rye Howard and Jen Stevens first arrived in North Adams, they realized that something was missing. “Every town needs a good bookstore,” Howard says. “This place had everything, except that.”

The Bear & Bee is an independent bookstore with a manifest point of view. Scanning the shelves, you’ll discover a carefully curated selection of used and new books spanning the genres. “The intention from the beginning was that every book we have will be worth reading and someone will learn from it or find it interesting,” says Rye Howard, who with partner Jen Stevens opened the independent bookstore in downtown North Adams at 28 Holden Street in June of 2021, holding a Pride event in the MASS MoCA courtyard to celebrate the feat. “We quickly learned that our interests intersect with those of the community in having a lot of queer, feminist, social justice, nature, sci-fi, and political sort of stuff, because that’s what we know.”

The path to opening a bookstore in the Berkshires was far from premeditated. Across continents, Howard and Stevens have spent many years traveling in pursuit of their jobs; after meeting in Pennsylvania they’ve migrated to Providence, Boston, and farther-flung locales Guatemala, Paris, and Bangladesh, where they were when the pandemic hit. An emergency flight home and several Airbnb stays later, the two explored the idea of living in the Berkshires—Howard, an avid hiker and biker, had discovered North Adams on a long-distance bike ride around the time of MASS MoCA’s opening. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is a cool town!'” So, some two decades later, when the couple was looking for a place where they could put down roots and connect with the community, North Adams rose to the top of the list. “We were ready to commit ourselves to the town and be a part of the growth, wherever it goes,” Stevens says.

The inspiration to start their own business began as a hypothetical abstraction developed over many car rides and daily conversations—initially as a joke and then more seriously. As Stevens recalls, they never once discussed if they wanted to do this. “We just kind of went from, ‘Oh wouldn’t that be great,’ to physically looking at storefronts to rent.”

The two came up with the whimsical name during one of many brainstorming sessions en route to and from Pennsylvania to visit family. While searching online to make sure The Bear & Bee was available (it was!), they were instantly smitten with the first image that popped up—a sweet illustration of a smiling, strolling brown bear in the company of a buzzing bee—by artist Raewyn Pope. “We messaged her to ask permission to use the image and she agreed, so just like that we licensed the image and had our logo,” Stevens says, still impressed by their good fortune.

The Bear & Bee’s logo, drawn by artist Raewyn Pope.

Never mind that neither Howard or Stevens had any experience owning, or even working at, a bookstore.  They were following their intuition. Plus the pair is by all accounts not risk averse or lacking in energy. A former midwife, Stevens was the director of her own birth center for seven years (delivering over 1,200 babies) before joining a United Nations organization in Bangladesh and working the night shift. In 2021, she received her Doctorate in Public Health, and currently works part-time remotely managing a workshop in Nepal for a different humanitarian organization. Howard has equal chops, earning a Doctor of Science in Environmental Health and clocking years in academics and non-profits. Like Stevens, Howard continues to work, landing a full-time job in the Berkshires as an environmental toxicologist.

“Toxicology work happens in places where people can afford to pay a scientist to do this kind of work,” Stevens explains. “In Bangladesh, it’s almost the same thing that happened in North Adams, where a big company comes in, gives people lots of jobs, and destroys the environment in the process, but people are just happy to have a job.”

Holding down jobs on top of operating a storefront is a lot to manage but allows them to continue doing the work they love while also providing the seed and supplemental income for the bookstore. Lacking their own cash reserves or grant money to fund a start-up business, the enterprising partners rolled up their sleeves and refurbished (over many months and trips to the lumber yard) the shop themselves.

Such an itinerant and iterative background certainly speaks to the couple’s shared resiliency. “In the past five years, I’ve taught at three different colleges, lived and worked in Bangladesh, transitioned to North Adams, opened a bookstore, bought a house, and got this new toxicology job,” Howard marvels. “It’s been crazy.”

 

The Bear and Bee's raw space before renovation
A behind-the-scenes look at the space before Howard and Stevens finished renovations and shelving. Photograph courtesy of The Bear & Bee

Curating the selection

Selling used books may sound quaint, but unlike the straightforward process of ordering boxes of new releases, honing in on targeted pre-owned titles requires ingenuity to pull off. Initially, they would get carloads of books from estate sales, sifting through to find what they wanted. And then serendipity struck.  Word started getting out that they were buying books, and with the library not accepting anything during COVID, people started bringing them to the store. Not only is this a practical and sustainable sourcing method, but the donations also provide insight into the community’s interests. “The stuff that gets brought in or donated is really interesting,” Stevens says.

Stacks of books at the Bear and Bee
Stacks of books climb the counters at the shop. Photograph courtesy of The Bear & Bee

For example, they’ve come to realize that rather than loading up on art books (given the tourists who would venture in from the museum), they needed to increase their poetry offerings. “People who are intellectual, art-based, or already thinking more on the edge gravitate toward those creative genres. So we learn from these things, and it helps us define who we are,” Stevens says. Howard agrees: “Getting to know people was an important reason we started the bookstore the first year we were in town. So, part of our mission is getting to know the community, and part of it is pushing for change and supporting that change through education.” The bookstore hosts a monthly book club, which is kept up to date on their social media channels.

Book club meeting at the Bear and Bee
Book club members mid-conversation at their first meeting. Photograph courtesy of The Bear & Bee

To help ease their load, they’ve hired a full-time employee—Jade Tarris, a local MCLA graduate with interests very much aligned with those of the bookstore. “We wanted someone who jibed with the personality that we want as a shop—quirky, eclectic, intelligent as well as edgy and kind of punk, and all that describes Jade too.”

The location has proven ideal—they get spillover from Public Eat+Drink right next door, and nearby Common Folk Artist Collective has helped the couple forge even more connections with the creative economy. “There are a bunch of other businesses here that we love, and we’re always telling people about them. So, let’s say we send shoppers to the Plant Connector, and likewise that owner sends her customers here. It’s just how it goes,” Stevens says. They call it networking with a purpose—helping each other rather than just helping their own business.

Front table display at the Bear and Bee bookstore
A neatly arranged and curated front table welcomes customers at the entrance of the store. Photograph courtesy of The Bear & Bee

Their ultimate measure of success? “I think this business reflects us so much. The design, the curation, the collection—it’s all very personal,” Stevens says, sparking Howard to chime in: “I love when someone comes in and says ‘Oh wow, you have this book!’ and I know that book and bought it specifically, and immediately we have something to talk about.”