Borders and Barnes ‘ Noble draw masses of college students through their doors with an allure of comfy chairs and giant cups of complicated coffee concoctions — a standard formula proven to attract casual book buyers. But as an answer to the literary commonplace, independent Bostonian bookstores from Harvard Square to Coolidge Corner have infused their shelves with a quirkiness unlike any other.
Behind its ornate signature red-and-gold sign, Trident Bookstore on Newbury Street offers an eclectic array of books and food. Voted the city’s best newsstand by Boston Magazine the past two years, the shop attracts students and professors from all over the city’s many campuses, said manager Michael Lemanski.
For browsers who wish to sit down and read inside the shop, which specializes in psychology, Buddhism and other Eastern religions, Trident offers a restaurant with a diverse menu.
“We’ve got plenty of people who grab a book and then sit down to eat at the restaurant,” Lemanski said. “We’re a bookstore and a restaurant co-existing in the same space.”
Unique entrees and appetizers like Challah french toast, Tibetian vegetarian dumplings and vegan cashew chili are just a few of the most popular dishes available, he said.
“At the very beginning it was pretty strictly coffee, and it grew up into a full-blown restaurant,” Lemanski said.
Across the Charles River, Schoenhof’s Foreign Books boasts exotic languages and tales to cook up interest.
The store, located a block from Harvard Avenue, sells books written in Icelandic, Mayan and various Native American languages, said store manager Rupert Davis, adding that the shop carries very few translated texts.
“People who want to learn a language come to us,” Davis said. “That includes people who are traveling, those who have to learn a language for school – people who want to enlarge their knowledge.”
With the influx of returning students searching for a leg up in their foreign-language classes, September is the store’s busiest month, Davis said.
Boston University students who find themselves pinching pennies often peruse the shelves at Brookline Booksmith, particularly the signature used-book basement, said manager Dana Brigham.
“We have a really wide demographic, anyone from senior citizens to college and high school students,” she said. “We’ve been here 46 years, so we keep changing with the times.”