By Kristan Sveda
Sentinel Correspondent
In 1982, Diane Garrett moved from Toronto, Canada to Greenwich with her husband and three teenagers.
“I was quite surprised that there was no children’s book store in this town,” she said. For three years that idea stayed with her. Then, in November 1990 she opened Diane’s Books, a family bookstore. “I wanted the whole family to read,” Garrett says. “We can’t raise lifelong readers unless everybody’s reading in the family. I feel very strongly about that. I didn’t know I could do both things equally well, but it was very important to me.”
At the time there were seven bookstores in town. She received some flack from residents who didn’t think the town needed another bookstore but she persevered.
“I knew what I was doing was the right thing,” she said.
She chose a little space on Grigg Street with lots of charm and neighborhood appeal. “Gratuitously, the landlord has let me go through the walls three times,” said Garrett. “Every time I had to expand, I never had to move.”
Flash forward 25 years and her formula hasn’t changed a bit, the shop is still bursting with books, her customers keep coming back and her competition has died off. She has endured the growing popularity of big box bookstores, e-books and Amazon. She has taken on each challenge with compassion, curiosity and communication — and always class.
“It’s saying something that my customers walk in with their Apple bags,” says Garrett.
So how does she manage to keep customers coming in an age where everybody wants things yesterday and almost everything is available at the click of a button?
It’s about the customer and everything else follows,” Garrett said. Her judgment free attitude (“I don’t care what you read, as long as you’re reading,” said Garrett.) and her highly selective inventory (“Every book we have is there for a reason,” said Garrett. “You don’t have to agree with me but I’ll tell you why I thought it was a great book.”), combine with her most important ingredient to create success:
“It’s focus,” she said, citing the same advice offered in Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In. “We only do one thing,” adds Garrett. “We don’t have sidelines. We don’t have coffee. We only focus on getting everybody the right book and caring about them.”
She has been selling e-books on her website, which she has had for 20 years and, Garrett said, the shop is always available via email. But what sets them apart is customer service. “All my staff has their own piece of real estate in the store,” said Garrett, explaining that each of her team has expertise in a certain genre.
“Diane is amazing for the number of books she reads,” says longtime customer Judy Petersen. “If she hasn’t read a title, some member of her staff has. Never have I been disappointed when I have asked her for a recommendation, be it for a newborn, a fourth grader, a new retiree or my 100-year-old father.”
For her efforts, she was awarded this spring with the Malcolm S. Pray Excellence in Business Award through the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce. Longtime customer Demi Ferraris, vice president of custom and corporate sales at Vineyard Vines, presented her with the award. Ferraris has been visiting Diane’s books since she was 7 years old and attributes any of her interest in reading to Garrett.
“My parents are big readers,” says Ferraris. “To be perfectly honest, I did not inherit the gene of having a love of reading. My sister was always the bookworm. But every time I went into Diane’s books I became instantly interested in reading. It was the way she would describe a good book.”
Now a mother of two boys she said shopping online gets tedious and difficult. Reading summaries doesn’t help her make a selection the way Garrett’s verbal summaries do. “I got to her store for my dad’s father’s day gift and I’m walking away with three books for myself,” said Ferraris. “Diane reminds of how important it is to take the time to read.”
Garrett’s infectious love of reading and books has spread across town over the years through her many experiences reading to children in her three neighborhood schools (Julian Curtiss, Hamilton Avenue and New Lebanon) through her partnerships with the Greenwich Library to supply books for author visits and her involvement in the community, giving back with books. She recently helped provide four children with a book and gift certificates for Diane’s Books for winning an essay contest about historic houses in town. “What great civic spirit,” Garrett said. “To say horary to you I decided to read them a story. I didn’t know I was going to be reading to 300 adults!” The board members of the Greenwich Historical Society asked her to do it again next year. “Everyone knows I’m available,” said Garrett.
Petersen said one of her favorite 90-minute moments of the year is when Garrett does an Angel Tree for children through the town’s social services system. Delta Kappa Gamma, the teachers’ service club, meets at Diane’s Books in early December to purchase books to meet their Angel Tree requests. Diane shares with them her favorite children’s books of the year.
“Diane Garrett is a treasure and her store is a treasure chest,” said Petersen.
Garrett modestly attests her efforts to wanting to be the best and kindest bookseller she can be. “The most important thing is the children,” says Garrett, recalling her joy when a 10-year-old boy came into her store a few weekends ago and told her every book he owns was from her store. “The store was packed on Saturday,” Garrett said. “He found his way over to me, looked me right in the eye and told me that.”
“If it weren’t for Diane, I don’t think I would have read a book since high school,” says Ferraris candidly. “What’s she’s done for people is really amazing.”
As her shop enjoys continued success, she wants to further her message to never stop reading by continually engaging the community. Last year the bookshop participated in the Greenwich Library town wide Greenwich Reads program, through which everyone participating reads the same book and shares in discussions about it. This year, Garrett said, the bookstore is considering doing a Diane’s Books Read for customers.
“Books are definitely community building,” said Garrett. “These children are bogged down with homework and tests and everything. How lovely that we have this moment of serendipity when we talk about the book, not just the book you’re reading, but the book everybody’s reading?”
Other than that, Garrett said, she hasn’t changed a thing and doesn’t plan to now.
“People have wanted me to open another store and have coffee and all the junk that’s in most bookstores — journals and chachkas and things. Not in our store,” said Garrett. “We just want every day to be the best we can be and the kindest we can be — to keep dancing and smiling and laughing and having fun.”
