New Bookstore Bar, RiffRaff, Slated to Open in Providence this Fall
GoLocalProv Lifestyle Team
New Bookstore Bar, RiffRaff, Slated to Open in Providence this Fall
Owners Tom Roberge and Emma Ramadan have signed the lease and have raised 75% of the startup costs, according to their website, but need to raise another $50,000. In order to do so, they are setting up a community lending program. From their website:
We're excited to announce that construction at 215 Dean Street is set to begin in August. Riffraff draws its inspiration from the best independent bookstores and neighborhood bars, establishments that are welcoming and comfortable and integral to the community. It will be the kind of place where readers looking for a selection of thoughtfully curated books might sit down at the bar and ask their neighbor what they’re reading, and where those meeting a friend for a good inexpensive drink might also pick up a book at the same time.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTConcept, Owners
According to shelfawarness.com, the store will have 1,500 square feet of space which will be split 60/40 between bookstore and bar, hold 7,000-8,000 titles and offer a selection of specialty selection of drinks. The bookstore's emphasis will be on literary fiction, crime, social sciences, poetry, art and graphic novels. There will also be s children's section.
RiffRaff.com writes:
Tom grew up in Connecticut and served in the Peace Corps before landing in New York, where he worked in a variety of roles in the book world: bookseller at McNally Jackson; managing editor at A Public Space; editor at Penguin Books; publicist and bookstore liaison at New Directions; and deputy director at Albertine Books. Some of his favorite authors are Don DeLillo, Maggie Nelson, and Philip K. Dick. His favorite drink is a scotch on the rocks.
About Community Lending Program
All lenders will received a 30% employee discount on books.
"We are seeking loans of a thousand dollars and up from those in the Providence community, and beyond, who believe in bringing this kind of space to Providence's West Side, who value the role culture plays in a community, and who understand the importance of independent, locally-owned businesses to the vibrancy of a city."
Top Shelf Tuesday - July 19, 2016
Jane Green
The New York Times bestselling author of The Beach House, Jemima J, and Summer Secrets presents a novel about the pleasure and meaning of finding a home—and family—where you least expect them...
When Emma Montague left the strict confines of upper-crust British life for New York, she felt sure it would make her happy. Away from her parents and expectations, she felt liberated, throwing herself into Manhattan life replete with a high-paying job, a gorgeous apartment, and a string of successful boyfriends. But the cutthroat world of finance and relentless pursuit of more began to take its toll. This wasn’t the life she wanted either.
Emma Rathbone
A hilarious novel that Maggie Shipstead calls "charming... witty and insightful," about a woman who still has her virginity at the age of twenty-six, and the summer she's determined to lose it—and find herself.
Julia Greenfield has a problem: she's twenty-six years old and she's still a virgin. Sex ought to be easy. People have it all the time! But, without meaning to, she made it through college and into adulthood with her virginity intact. Something's got to change.
To re-route herself from her stalled life, Julia travels to spend the summer with her mysterious aunt Vivienne in North Carolina. It's not long, however, before she unearths a confounding secret—her 58-year-old aunt is a virgin too. In the unrelenting heat of the southern summer, Julia becomes fixated on puzzling out what could have lead to Viv's appalling condition, all while trying to avoid the same fate.
The Hopefuls
Jennifer Close
A brilliantly funny novel about ambition and marriage from the best-selling author of Girls in White Dresses, The Hopefuls tells the story of a young wife who follows her husband and his political dreams to Washington, DC, a city of idealism, gossip, and complicated friendships among the young aspiring elite.
When Beth arrives in DC, she hates everything about it: the confusing traffic circles, the ubiquitous Ann Taylor suits, the humidity that descends each summer. At dinner parties, guests compare their security clearance levels. They leave their BlackBerrys on the table. They speak in acronyms. And once they realize Beth doesn't work in politics, they smile blandly and turn away. Soon Beth and her husband, Matt, meet a charismatic White House staffer named Jimmy, and his wife, Ashleigh, and the four become inseparable, coordinating brunches, birthdays, and long weekends away. But as Jimmy’s star rises higher and higher, the couples’ friendship—and Beth’s relationship with Matt—is threatened by jealousy, competition, and rumors. A glorious send-up of young DC and a blazingly honest portrait of a marriage, this is the finest work yet by one of our most beloved writers.
Maggie O’Farrell
An irresistible love story, an unforgettable family. Best-selling author Maggie O’Farrell captures an extraordinary marriage with insight and laugh-out-loud humor in what Richard Russo calls “her breakout book.” Perfect for readers of Where’d You Go, Bernadette.
Meet Daniel Sullivan, a man with a complicated life. A New Yorker living in the wilds of Ireland, he has children he never sees in California, a father he loathes in Brooklyn, and a wife, Claudette, who is a reclusive ex–film star given to pulling a gun on anyone who ventures up their driveway. Claudette was once the most glamorous and infamous woman in cinema before she staged her own disappearance and retreated to blissful seclusion in an Irish farmhouse.
Ridley Pearson
John Knox and Grace Chu, the incomparable duo of the Risk Agent novels, team up again in the latest international thrill ride from New York Times–bestselling author Ridley Pearson.
When ex–military contractor John Knox receives a text from partner Grace Chu warning that she fears her cover may have been blown while on assignment, he jumps into action. Knox must locate her overseas handlers, convince them of the threat, and then attempt to retrace the well-hidden steps of a woman who had been attempting to determine how one million euros’ worth of AIDS vaccine disappeared, all while eluding angry poachers on a parallel trail.
