Canio's Books hunting for new location after 44 years in Sag Harbor
Canio's Books co-owners Maryann Calendrille, left, and Kathryn Szoka at the store in Sag Harbor on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Canio’s Books in a few months will close the chapter that began 44 years ago.
The small bookstore will leave the Sag Harbor building it has occupied since the store opened, because the landlord is not renewing the lease, which expires Sept. 30.
Now the store’s owners are on the hunt for a new space but have been challenged by zoning and affordable-rent issues, said Maryann Calendrille, who has owned the business with her partner, Kathryn Szoka, since 1999.
"We’ve been working to find a location for over a year … But we have a couple of options and we are, you know, cautious but hopeful that we’ll be able to secure something nearby," she said.
Martha Siegler, who bought the Main Street building in 1997, is not renewing the bookstore’s current three-year lease because she wants to renovate the space, she said.
Most of the building underwent a major renovation in 1997, but the bookstore’s space got minimal updates to bring it up to code standards with heating, electricity and ceiling fireproofing work, Siegler said.
"The reason that I need to get it vacant now after all this time is it was not renovated [fully] when I bought the building, but the rest of the building was. But the bookstore had all the books," said Siegler, who added that she doesn’t know what she will do with the space after the renovation is done.
The bookstore’s rent was $1,400 a month when Calendrille and Szoka took over the business, and it is now about $3,000, she said.
Siegler occupies an apartment beside the bookstore on the first floor. Two apartments are on the second floor.
The bookstore is an 800-square-foot space at 290 Main St., the same address it occupied when Canio Pavone founded the business in 1980.
When Canio’s Books opened in 1980, Sag Harbor was a quiet village with affordable commercial and residential rent but that has changed, Calendrille said.
Sag Harbor now draws more affluent residents and vacationers.
"Now fancy boutiques and outlets are coming in because they can absorb that kind of rent," Calendrille said.
Space options are also limited because a small portion of the village is zoned for retail, mostly in the business district, she said.
The bookstore is located outside the village’s business district in an area that is mostly residential, but it is "grandfathered in as preexisting nonconforming," she said.
Sag Harbor is a 2-square-mile village that is split between two towns: about three-fifths is in Southampton, while the remainder is in East Hampton.
There used to be five bookstores in the village, which now has two, Calendrille said.
Canio’s Books’ business is strong, helped by a loyal following of local book lovers, Calendrille said.
The store sells new and used fiction and nonfiction books.
"We have a really carefully selected collection of children’s books. We have art. We have poetry … a little bit of everything but not a whole lot," said Calendrille, who teaches creative writing classes in the shop.
Szoka teaches photography classes there.
The store also hosts community events, such as authors’ talks and workshops, and it is featuring a small art exhibit with work by two local East End painters now.
The store employs three part-time workers, she said.
Sag Harbor has a 100-year literary history that began in the 1930s, if not earlier, when writers and editors started to come to the village as a cheap getaway to which they could escape to work, Szoka said.
Longtime Southampton resident Isabel Sepúlveda-de Scanlon stopped by the bookstore to pick up a book, "Dear Inheritors," by Kathy Engel on Wednesday afternoon.
"I’m crossing my fingers that they find a place … [that is] not overpriced," said Sepúlveda-de Scanlon, 66.
She is the vice president of OLA of Eastern Long Island Inc. (Organización Latino Americana), a nonprofit Latino-focused advocacy organization that she co-founded in 2002.
The bookstore has invited Latino authors and poets to events, "kind of building a bridge in our community. So, the Latino community has an open door there," she said.
Peggy Canale, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, visits the store when she comes in the summers to the Hamptons, where her family has owned a vacation home for 40 years.
The bookstore offers local charm, Canale, 68, said in the store Wednesday.
"It’s authentic … I like it because these are hometown folks," she said.
Canio’s Books in a few months will close the chapter that began 44 years ago.
The small bookstore will leave the Sag Harbor building it has occupied since the store opened, because the landlord is not renewing the lease, which expires Sept. 30.
Now the store’s owners are on the hunt for a new space but have been challenged by zoning and affordable-rent issues, said Maryann Calendrille, who has owned the business with her partner, Kathryn Szoka, since 1999.
"We’ve been working to find a location for over a year … But we have a couple of options and we are, you know, cautious but hopeful that we’ll be able to secure something nearby," she said.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Canio's Books' rent increased from $1,400 a month decades ago to about $3,000 now.
- The 44-year-old bookstore is located outside the village’s business district in an area that is mostly residential.
- The lease expires Sept. 30.
Martha Siegler, who bought the Main Street building in 1997, is not renewing the bookstore’s current three-year lease because she wants to renovate the space, she said.
Most of the building underwent a major renovation in 1997, but the bookstore’s space got minimal updates to bring it up to code standards with heating, electricity and ceiling fireproofing work, Siegler said.
"The reason that I need to get it vacant now after all this time is it was not renovated [fully] when I bought the building, but the rest of the building was. But the bookstore had all the books," said Siegler, who added that she doesn’t know what she will do with the space after the renovation is done.
The bookstore’s rent was $1,400 a month when Calendrille and Szoka took over the business, and it is now about $3,000, she said.
Siegler occupies an apartment beside the bookstore on the first floor. Two apartments are on the second floor.
Changing scenes
The bookstore is an 800-square-foot space at 290 Main St., the same address it occupied when Canio Pavone founded the business in 1980.
When Canio’s Books opened in 1980, Sag Harbor was a quiet village with affordable commercial and residential rent but that has changed, Calendrille said.
Sag Harbor now draws more affluent residents and vacationers.
"Now fancy boutiques and outlets are coming in because they can absorb that kind of rent," Calendrille said.
Space options are also limited because a small portion of the village is zoned for retail, mostly in the business district, she said.
The bookstore is located outside the village’s business district in an area that is mostly residential, but it is "grandfathered in as preexisting nonconforming," she said.
Sag Harbor is a 2-square-mile village that is split between two towns: about three-fifths is in Southampton, while the remainder is in East Hampton.
There used to be five bookstores in the village, which now has two, Calendrille said.
'Building a bridge'
Canio’s Books’ business is strong, helped by a loyal following of local book lovers, Calendrille said.
The store sells new and used fiction and nonfiction books.
"We have a really carefully selected collection of children’s books. We have art. We have poetry … a little bit of everything but not a whole lot," said Calendrille, who teaches creative writing classes in the shop.
Szoka teaches photography classes there.
The store also hosts community events, such as authors’ talks and workshops, and it is featuring a small art exhibit with work by two local East End painters now.
The store employs three part-time workers, she said.
Sag Harbor has a 100-year literary history that began in the 1930s, if not earlier, when writers and editors started to come to the village as a cheap getaway to which they could escape to work, Szoka said.
Longtime Southampton resident Isabel Sepúlveda-de Scanlon stopped by the bookstore to pick up a book, "Dear Inheritors," by Kathy Engel on Wednesday afternoon.
"I’m crossing my fingers that they find a place … [that is] not overpriced," said Sepúlveda-de Scanlon, 66.
She is the vice president of OLA of Eastern Long Island Inc. (Organización Latino Americana), a nonprofit Latino-focused advocacy organization that she co-founded in 2002.
The bookstore has invited Latino authors and poets to events, "kind of building a bridge in our community. So, the Latino community has an open door there," she said.
Peggy Canale, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia, visits the store when she comes in the summers to the Hamptons, where her family has owned a vacation home for 40 years.
The bookstore offers local charm, Canale, 68, said in the store Wednesday.
"It’s authentic … I like it because these are hometown folks," she said.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
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