The Shire Book Shop in Franklin, MA, is a Book Lover's Dream

The Shire Book Shop in Franklin, MA, is a Book Lover's Dream, Located in a Historic Mill Building Complex

by Eric H.
VisitingNewEngland.com (updated, May 3, 2009)

When it comes to old-fashioned, independently-owned book stores in the Greater Boston, MA, area, I thought the book was closed on places I hadn't been.

Fortunately, there's an exciting new chapter in my eternal local book store search called the Shire Book Shop in Franklin, MA. Located in a network of old mill buildings -- some dating back to the Civil War Era -- the Book Shire is an amazing historical and book lover's sight. It's the size of a small Barnes and Noble with factory ceilings -- and books -- seemingly reaching the sky, the classic old book smell permeating the charming, historic building, comfortable sofas and lights with reading ambiance to make the experience all that much more pleasant. The staff offered us tea, thanked us for our interest in books, and offered to help us find our subject matter. We took them up on their offer, knowing that it might take as long finding our specific subject as reading a book by Tolstoy or Milton.

We found what we were looking for and more, with so many interesting contemporary and rare, out-of-print books -- it would take an eternity to check the entire inventory. Regular visits to this fascinating return-to-another-era book shop will, no doubt, be part of our regular schedule.

In this day of getting things instantly -- and where one local political hack was quoted as saying libraries are a thing of the past all in the name of budget cutting -- it's absolutely refreshing to see a business truly dedicated to the love of books. The customers are the lucky recipients of the Shire Book Shop, fully immersing themselves in the process of looking at books from all eras and the thrill of eventually finding your book. May busineeses like the Shire Book Shop never go out of print!