“My name is George Bailey,” exclaims bookseller Matthew Tannenbaum in Adam Zax’s charming new non-fiction film, Hello, Bookstore.
The comparison is warranted, as the documentary makes for an irresistible, true-life Capra-esque story.
Tannenbaum, who has run a bookstore in Lenox, Massachusetts since 1976, faced inevitable closure during the pandemic when restrictions and lockdowns brought various wolves to the door.
A desperate GoFundMe fundraiser not only saved the business, but it also doubled its $60,000 (€55,046) goal in just two days. It was a lucky break for both Tannenbaum and Zax, who had been filming the store for more than a year.
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“My wife grew up in this area and the Berkshires,” says Zax. “So about 10 years ago or so I came to Lenox and wandered into the bookstore expecting to find, you know, another bookstore. I was pleasantly surprised to stumble into a magical world I had never experienced before.
“The more I visited, the more I was convinced that the store had a unique energy, it wasn’t just a shop, it was the hub of the community. And that all stemmed from this man and the way he created a business and created a world.
“The way that he sold books and told stories, I saw it as theatre. I would just sit and watch. In the summer of 2019, we talked about the possibility of doing a fly-on-the-wall, verite documentary. With no expectations.”
Thus, Zax began shooting a project that would land on Variety’s top 10 films of the year list. What was intended to unfold as a portrait of a small business over four seasons evolved into a dramatic survival story as Covid protocols took hold.
“My kids told me, you’re closing tomorrow,” says Tannenbaum. “Have you been paying attention? Tomorrow’s your last day. Everything is shutting down. I was really oblivious. I just put one foot in front of the other.
“We shut down for three or four days. And then, and then we realised, we could do kerbside and deliveries for one or two days. So we found out where some of our customers lived. That was fun. Curbside became the new adventure.
“I didn’t notice how sales were going down by 90 per cent, because I kept busy. Months later, I realised that I’m making in one week, what I used to make in one day. ‘Oh, this model isn’t working.’”
Hello, Bookstore is a fond reminder that walking through a bookshop can feel like a reunion with old friends, as patrons of Tannenbaum’s s literary emporium can attest. Every nook and cranny has meaning. Get Lit, the bookstore’s bar, was created in memory of an old friend who survived the Holocaust. “Our motto is, you can’t drink all day unless you start in the morning,” says Tannenbaum.
The Bookstore, as his shop is simply called, is not your average independent outlet. As the proprietor of the venerable bazaar notes, independent is typically synonymous with limited stock. A brief survey of Tannenbaum’s shelves reveals a canon that runs from Higgledy Piggledy Pop to Hamlet.
Tannenbaum’s curation is unique. Zadie Smith and Edwidge Danticat are swapped around due to clashing cover colours. Tannenbaum’s aim is always to find the perfect book for each customer. Over the course of Hello, Bookstore he reads from Philip Roth, John Crowley, and Billy Collins.
Fintan O’Toole’s The Politics of Pain gets a prime corner spot beside Lara Maiklem’s Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames.
“That’s in the movie?” asks the gregarious Tannenbaum over Zoom. “Oh yes. Great. Absolutely. We want you to think that’s significant. I was in a lovely second-hand bookshop in Dublin a couple of years ago. It was across the river from where we were staying. And I found a lovely biography of Allen Lane who started Penguin Books. That was just the right book for me.”
Tannenbaum is a compelling character. The Brooklyn-born bibliophile fell in love with literature during a stint with the US navy after another sailor introduced him to the writing of Henry Miller and Norman Mailer.
When his wife died after 11 years of marriage, Tannenbaum was left to run the bookstore and raise two young daughters, Shawnee and Sophie. Tannenbaum’s memoir about learning his trade at Frances Steloff’s popular book emporium Gotham Book Mart was published in 2009. Over the course of the film, he shares stories and anecdotes about everyone from Patti Smith to Carly Simon. He even has a fun story about Siobhán McKenna’s Molly Bloom soliloquy.
“We really got to go off the record here,” laughs Tannenbaum. “Sometimes I’m sitting at home after a long day of being surrounded by books. And I look around the shelf and I say, should I pick up a new book or should I maybe have a glass of wine or beer and take a look at Molly Bloom? I do that every once in a while and I can hear Siobhán McKenna’s voice. So that happened before a date. And I’ve never seen the date again. It did not go well.”
The money raised through crowdfunding have allowed for a degree of financial security and created a new community of customers.
“Last week, an old black man from Grosse Point, Michigan came in and said, I just watched your film in Detroit, and I had to drive 700 miles to meet you,” says Tannenbaum.
“Well. they just had to widen the doorway because my head got so big. And he said I had to meet you but I also want to sit in this store and see what this community does. And I thought: ‘I wish Adam was here to put this in the documentary.’
“Almost every day, and certainly every week, somebody comes in who has either seen the film or has heard about the film. One time, a woman came in and she said: ‘That desk, I recognise that desk from Hello, Bookstore.’ So the after party goes on. I have to do a lot of selfies. And autographs! I have to do my hair every day now.”
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Hello, Bookstore is in cinemas and on-demand from June 30th
