Hickory Stick Book Shop — Local services in Washington

Since moving to West Central Connecticut in 2021 I have been looking for a bookstore of the caliber of St. Marks Book Store in the East Village of New York, or, as I reminisce back to my youth, PaperBack Booksmith in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I think the Hickory Stick Bookstore fits the bill - especially when I consider Philip Roth lived within 15 miles of the location, Saul Bellow taught at Bard College - a mere 40 miles away, and Bernard Malamud taught at Bennington again, close by, in Southern Vermont.

The staff tells me Hickory Stick Bookshop has operated for the last 70 years - perhaps it isn't a stretch to imagine these writers did walk the store way back when.

Back to Christmas time, 2023:

The book store is notable, for me, because the staff does me the favor of prominently displaying current fiction peeking my interest. Finding a store I can mind meld with is an important plus for me.

The staff writes their own reviews of many of the titles. I enjoy reading their take on titles I, myself, have read.

Hickory Stick Bookshop hosts live presentations by authors. I will admit I found a similar feature for a bookshop located in Huntington Village, on Long Island, but I can't say I ever mind melded with the Hunting Village shop as I have with this one.

Getting back to reminiscing ... The staff tells me the Gilmore Girls book & TV series were created within a few walking steps of The Hickory Stick Bookshop.

Nifty!

If you are driving through Washington & Washington Depot I recommend you pop into The Hickory...

By far the worst I have ever been treated in a store. I walked in Quietly after the farmers market with my extremely well behaved 3 year old and was immediately chased down by an older woman who scolded us for not using hand sanitizer that was tucked away on a small tv table without a sign. We happily obliged. She then asked if my son was at least 5. I asked if he had to be 5 to be in this bookstore and she said no. She then said there were Other kids in the store that were older than 5 and we couldn’t look at the children’s stuff until they left. I thought it seemed odd as the children’s section is not small and we could easily socially distance. When the other children walked out we walked in and She then had another Older woman walk into the kids section and follow us around the entire time. When another family came in she came up to us telling us there were more kids in the store indicating that we should leave. At no point in time were we unable to social distance. This completely ruined our quiet Saturday mornings that we spend in what is typically a quaint...

There's no public restroom. I was looking forward to visiting this store but someone in my group needed to use the facilities. I wasn't going to keep looking and give more money to a place that doesn't (in my personal opinion) take care of it's customers needs. I bought what I had already selected and they were nice enough to me since I was spending money but I didn't feel that extended to the person that was with me. This is strictly my personal preference and what I'm looking for as a shopper. If it doesn't bother you for there to be no restrooms this is a cute store to visit with a all town charm to...