Rumspringa Books aims to add literary hub to downtown Springfield

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a day ago

SPRINGFIELD — What began as a passion project for Brett Albert and Kate Kreider, co-owners of Rumspringa Books, is evolving into a mission to make Springfield a literary destination.
The married duo, who have been operating their independent bookstore out of Nosh Restaurant & Cafe for more than a year, are launching an initiative to bring authors to downtown Springfield.
'We really have a goal of making Springfield the literary capital of Western Massachusetts,' said Albert.
Opening up shop inside of Nosh in early 2024, after operating part-time out of Granny's Baking Table in 2023, was the start of finding a solution for what Albert called Springfield's 'book desert.'
'It had been about 15 years since any bookstore existed downtown,' he said.
The longest-standing independent bookstore in downtown Springfield was Johnson's Books on Main Street, which closed in 1998.
Red Brick Books still sells used books at its Page Boulevard location, while Olive Tree Books-N-Voices offers books rooted in African American culture at 97 Hancock St.
But Rumspringa Books is hoping its effort will help revitalize the downtown entertainment sector.
'When I look at Springfield as a city, we have these incredible institutions, a lot of legacy institutions in the city, and they do amazing work,' Albert said. 'And I feel like sometimes, the rest of Western Mass is almost aloof to the Springfield Museums, to what's going on at Springfield Symphony Hall, all of the above.'
Running Rumspringa Books is a labor of love for Albert, who works full-time as a teacher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Isenberg School of Management, and Kreider, who works as a pediatric palliative care social worker for Baystate Health.
There's a simple reason the couple continues to put so much energy into Rumspringa's mission: They love books.
Planning author series
Going into the new year, Albert said he and his wife began looking for ways to expand Rumspringa's presence.
'In 2025, how do you make an indie bookstore sustainable? It has to be more than just a place that I'm purchasing a specific title I'm looking for,' Albert said.
'In speaking with some major authors over the last couple of years about what their book tours are like, they essentially begin in New York, head up to Boston for some major bookstores out east and then skip right past us here in Springfield,' he said.
While sometimes authors will make a stop in Northampton or Easthampton on their tours, or at the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Springfield often isn't even on their radar, Albert said.
'If we can create proof of concept that Springfield is worth visiting, then maybe we can get more of those tours here,' he said.
The first author Rumspringa Books will bring to Springfield is journalist Megan Greenwell, who published her book, 'Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream,' in June. She will speak at Rumspringa Books Aug. 14.
'Bad Company' shows how the private equity world has affected Americans — focusing on a Toys R Us employee who lost her job; a rural doctor in a hospital that saw services eroded; a journalist affected by newsroom layoffs; and a tenant in a rat-infested apartment.
''Bad Company,' Megan's new book, has some major moral hazards that we should sit with — some huge unintended consequences that we have to deal with, or be aware of at the very least,' Albert said.
Albert said that he'd been following Greenwell's work for some time and reached out to her to see if she'd be interested in speaking about 'Bad Company' in Springfield.
She said yes.
Greenwell was motivated to write 'Bad Company' after her own experience with private equity acquisition. She was working as the editor-in-chief of digital sports publication Deadspin when it was taken over by a private equity firm. Within three months, she was pushed out of her job.
'After that happened to me, I became so fascinated by how private equity works and more importantly, why it works the way that it does,' Greenwell said in an interview with The Republican.
She didn't want to just write a textbook overview of private equity, however, and instead leaned into her strength as a narrative writer.
'Nobody thinks they want to read a primer on private equity, but I thought that people would want to read stories about how real people were affected, and come to understand it that way,' Greenwell said.
Her hope is to draw back the curtain on private equity firms, revealing what these firms do behind the scenes.
'This is an industry that is very secretive by design. It's not an accident. Private equity firms don't want us to know how they work,' Greenwell said. 'My goal is to show people, through telling human stories, that you can know.'
Greenwell will speak about her book Aug. 14 at 5:30 p.m.
While admission is free, people are encouraged to buy tickets — priced at $29.99 — for a signed edition of Greenwell's book. Tickets can be purchased online or in-person at Rumspringa Books.
Signed copies of 'Bad Company' also will be available at Rumspringa on the night of the author talk.
While Greenwell is the first author Rumspringa is hosting, Albert says she will not be the last. They hope to present at least one author event a month.
'Our plan is to continue to grow,' he said, 'but it has to all be centered on Springfield with the history of the city, with the opportunity that nothing like this has really existed, especially in the downtown space.'
Read the original article on MassLive.
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