Goodbye Catholic Bookstore

After nearly 50 years at 125 Market Street in downtown Hartford the Catholic Book Store has quietly closed up shop and moved to the suburbs for the same old reasons other businesses flee the city. The store moved to the bright and airy campus of the St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. The bookstore cited that there was no foot traffic downtown and lots of older people did not want to have to deal with finding and paying for parking (good thing the book store did not move to Blue Back Square because you know that is the suburbs and you have to pay and look for parking there to). The comments made by the store’s bookkeeper Jan Lemoine in a recent Hartford Advocate article entitled Catholic Bookstore Leaves Town are extremely disheartening. She said “Hartford is not coming around. To harp on it makes no sense.” She also said “people don’t want to come to Hartford, so we came out here [Bloomfield].” Besides the fact that those comments are uncalled for they are blatantly inaccurate and you can rest assured that I will tell you why.

First, people do want to come to Hartford. Despite the hardships we have endured over the last few months there are a ton of great events that happen every month here and every event is well attended. For instance this week I will be fortunate enough to attend a political fundraiser, get HYPEd at Main Street Seafood and Lounge and hit up the Liquid Lounge at the Connecticut Science Center. Unfortunately I was not able to attend but last week was the popular First Thursday at the Wadsworth. I am going to stop here even though there are more amazing events, restaurants, establishments and attractions that draw people into Hartford. Apparently though no one was visiting the Catholic Bookstore and I question if it has something do with religion.

And on that note before I close this section I would like to state that each and every Sunday churches throughout the Capital City draw people in from each and every neighborhood as well as suburbs near and far. I was thrilled to see the beautiful Saint Patrick Saint Anthony Church downtown packed on Easter Sunday. During my time there as a parishioner the church reinvented itself and now draws in people from throughout the area and has made a major investment in the city by opening its Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry.

The better rationale is maybe it had something to do with how the bookstore operated.

Source: D’Ambrosio, Dan. Catholic Bookstore Leaves Town. 6 April, 2010. 7 April, 2010. http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/drive-by-media/catholic-bookstore-leaves-town