MOLLY MONTGOMERY PHOTO
Chayton Pabich Danyla as Edgar Allen Poe, Craig Henderson as a Commander from the Handmaid’s Tale, Andrea Barbelich as a handmaid, and Judy Deshpande as Anne Rica at Saturday’s party.
Centuries worth of literary and real-life New Haven characters showed up for the party — a fitting way to celebrate an indy used-bookstore that has survived tumultuous industry changes.
The anniversary party took place Saturday, all day.
David Duda, who founded and owns the shop, dressed for the occasion as Ignatius T. Reilly from John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces.
The bookstore has managed to survive the Amazon era, he theorized, because of its community.
“It’s a joint effort – myself, my employees, and the community of people who support us. People come in a few times a week saying this is their favorite place in New Haven,” he said.
What attracts those people? In Duda’s best estimate, “a sense that we built a sense of community here. That’s what keeps people coming back.”
Everyone at the party seemed to agree.
David Duda, founder and owner of Booktrader, dressed as Ignatius T. Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces.
Booktrader’s first-ever customer, Roderick Topping, bought a coffee as soon as Duda unlocked the shop door in 1998. He now works there on Fridays and Saturdays. He was at the party dressed as Anonymous.
Present too for the celebration was a former frequenter and well-known New Haven character who goes by the name of Floatin’ Fred (aka Fred Mass). “Anyone that’s been here way back, they know who that is,” he said.
He hadn’t been to Booktrader for a while.
“When Dave told me it’s been here 20 years, I said, ‘Where, where, where did time go?’” said Fred. “I had some of the best times of my life over at the Booktrader. It was a welcoming place for everybody – literary people, coots, nuts.”
He recalled living in the back of a pick-up truck for 750 days, through two New Haven winters. “Dave and everybody knew my situation, and they were accepting of it.”
Rocky Salgado, the general manager, was serving people coffee while guests entered in costume. She suggested that the sense of community in the store may also come from the wide range of books.
“You get a lot of eclectic people, a lot of different people looking for different kinds of books.”
Different kinds of books indeed. If you browse those shelves tomorrow, you might come away with Honoré de Balzac’s The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau. Or, you might instead choose Mari San Giovanni’s Greetings from Jamaica, Wish You Were Queer.
Roderick Topping, Booktrader’s first customer, dressed as Anonymous.
“You never know what you’re going to find,” said Chayton Pabich Danyla, a Yale undergraduate who dressed up as Edgar Allen Poe and shared the costume contest prize with someone dressed as Ernest Hemingway and a third guest dressed as Edna St. Vincent Millay. “It’s social, people are moving around, it’s a community place.”
And the next 20 years?
“I guess we’ll be around,” Duda said, “as long as there is that support.”
Booktrader is tied in my mind with Books by the Falls in Derby for the best used bookstore in CT. The latter now has Bad Sons Brewery in the same old, rambling factory, so one can enjoy a brewski by the waterfalls. Both stores are awesome and hoping they are around another 20 years!