Jennie Grey took this picture earlier this week
 in the expansive children's section at Northshire Bookstore,
which is celebrating one year in Saratoga Springs.

I love the lead to reporter Jennie Grey’s story this week aboutNorthshire Bookstore’s first year in Saratoga, which, she wrote, “has whipped by like the chapters of a late-night page-turner.”

So true. It’s hard to believe Northshire (and the building it’s in smack in the middle of Broadway) is only one year old, so great an impact has it had in the city and surrounding communities.

The store is one of the best things to happen to downtown Saratoga Springs in recent memory, and that’s saying a lot, considering how many terrific things you can find there. The independent, family-owned operation with a fabulous reputation for its Manchester, Vt., shop, jumped right into the community with its diverse offerings and seemingly endless stream of visits by a wide-range of authors, from national to intensely local.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Doris Kearns Goodwin and Richard Russo; others were enthralled by Anne Rice and thrilled to meet Hillary Clinton; I had fun at an in-store cooking demonstration one day led by Annette Nielsen. The variety and quantity of events are amazing.

“We are happy to be a part of the Saratoga Springs community,” owner Chris Morrow told Jennie Grey. “Independent bookselling is a tenuous effort in the best of times, so it is important to be in a supportive community that appreciates our commitment to quality, enrichment and literacy.”

They are not just good business people, they are good neighbors. I am so grateful to them and the local people who helped them make the logical leap to Saratoga Springs. And I hope we all do our part to help keep them in business for years to come.