R.J. Julia Booksellers Has Been Drawing the Crowds and Celebrities for 25 Years

What do Hillary Clinton, Julie Andrews, Tom Brokaw, Jim Calhoun, Jimmy Carter, Mary Higgins Clark, Paula Deen, Steven King and Barbara Walters all have in common?

The all-world celebrities have made the trek down Interstate 95 to Madison to attend a book signing at R.J. Julia Booksellers over the past 25 years.

The list of celebrities, who have flocked to the Shoreline institution, is too long to list, but some of the names mentioned above show the importance and significance of R.J. Julia’s.

R.J. Julia Booksellers is kicking off a year of anniversary events, Sunday April 19, with a party celebrating its customers for 25 years of loyalty.

Like all good anniversary parties there will be cake, champagne, raffles, giveaways, special savings throughout the store and fun surprises on the day of the event. The day-long party is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with the special cake-cutting ceremony at 1 p.m.

Over the past 25 years R.J. Julia has opened its doors 10,000 times, welcomed over 3,000 authors to the community and neighboring towns, donated over two million dollars to charities and introduced over five million books to readers.

R.J. Julia’s continued success as an independent bookstore is truly remarkable in light of the competition from the internet.

Owner Roxanne Coady is reminded of April 19, 1990 by a picture sitting on her desk of her and her husband Kevin at the front door of the store at 12:30pm right before the opening.

“We were still shelving books that morning,” she laughs, according to a prepared statement. She was also eight months pregnant at the time. “Looking at this 41-year-old couple, I am reminded of our innocence, our enthusiasm and our recklessness!”

With the advent of formidable competitors such as online giant Amazon in the mid-1990s undercutting brick and mortar stores, and major chains B&N and Borders experiencing major growth, independent bookstores took a major hit.

In 2015, only half of the independent bookstores that were in existence in 1990 stand today. However, the big box chains didn’t escape unscathed. Borders is no longer in business and Barnes & Noble stores continue to drop in number.

“I do wonder what it is that allowed us to survive, why we still exist, what factors resulted in us still standing, and, thankfully, still growing,” Coady said in a prepared statement. “Looking back, I never considered a bookstore a relic, even when many thought the day of the printed book was over. Maybe what has girded our survival in the midst of extraordinary change in reading habits is that a bookstore stands in testament to timelessness—it is the antidote to all that is fleeting, unimportant and flimsy. We enter a bookstore and there is an undeniable quality of celebration of all that is and can be possible—these are fundamental, almost spiritual needs that we all have.”

“We’re blessed to have dedicated booksellers who bring their love of the written word to the bookstore every day and whose passion is putting the right book in the right hand,” Coady says.

And the future looks bright for independent bookstores as a whole.

According to recent data from the American Booksellers Association, “Book sales in independent bookstores have grown almost 8% in 2012 over the previous year and held onto these gains through 2013 and 2014.” Oren Teicher, CEO of the ABA said in a prepared statement. “For book buyers, there is still no better place to discover their next great read than in a bricks and mortar bookstore. The best algorithm can’t beat the insight and knowledge of passionate indie booksellers.”

Andrew Brennan, Head Book Buyer at R.J. Julia agrees. “Our booksellers love to read. We’re all lucky to have a place that you can come to and have a passionate and honest discussion about a book with someone who has actually read it.”

Lori Fazio, Store Manager feels positive about the future as well, “I love to see young readers meet their favorite author for the first time and hear customers tell us how much they loved a book recommended to them by our booksellers. To see so much joy in their faces, knowing that they have a comfortable place where the love of books is alive and well, keeps me adrenalized for the next 25 years.”

Upcoming 25th anniversary events include an all-day family picnic in July and a gala fund-raiser in the fall, as well as fun happenings throughout the year. For more information, stop by the store or visit our website at www.rjjulia.com.

Patch file photo