The Boston Globe’s David Mehegan wrote a piece on the year-end closing of Avenue Victor Hugo bookshop. Maybe he got Vince McCaffrey’s 4 page press release—which like so many things dedicated booksellers do, flew in the face of conventional wisdom (keep it short). Anyway, Mehegan was properly reverential and sympathetic. But in the end I come away wondering how Ave Victor Hugo managed to make it through the ‘90s on what has become a high end strip mall, Newbury Street. I also wonder why no one has, in Boston, done what booksellers like Powell’s and others have done. That is, to shelve new and old books together (Vince says he did that, and he did but that certainly wasn’t the perception the public had of his store). So it goes. Poteet, poteet…
About The Author
Robert Birnbaum
Robert Birnbaum’s Social Security number ends in 2247. He lives in zip code 02465 and area code 617. He was born in the 2nd month of a year in the 20th century. He doesn’t social network (used as a verb) except through his Cuban retriever Beny (named after Beny More, the Frank Sinatra of Cuba). Izzy Birnbaum also has cloud storage and uses electronic mail. He hopes his son Cuba is the second coming of Pudge Rodriguez. He mutters to himself at Our Man In Boston. E-mail: duendepublishing@gmail.com