Despite Many Changes, Canio's Books Maintains Its Hold

For the last 35 years, thousands of people have made their way through the dark blue doors at Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor.Inside, the musky smell of paper lingers throughout the little shop. The gray floorboards creak with every few steps. Rows and rows of bookshelves tower over everything else. And a teddy bear named Toasty awaits a reading companion on a cranberry-colored love seat.

The building at 290 Main Street that has been Canio’s home for more than three decades is currently up for sale—it recently went on the market for $2.9 million—but the business’s co-owner, Kathryn Szoka, said the bookshop will stay in Sag Harbor no matter what the building’s new owner decides to do with it.

“We’re open to whatever creative ideas to maintain it,” Ms. Szoka said at the shop last week as upbeat jazz music softy played in the background. “We are definitely committed to staying in Sag Harbor, preferably at 290 Main Street.”

Canio’s has thrived at its location, which is just down the road from the village’s business district. Founded by Canio Pavone in September 1980, it started off as a shop where people could donate used books. When Nelson Algren, author of “The Man With the Golden Arm,” became a regular visitor shortly after it opened, Mr. Pavone asked him to do a reading at the store. The New York Times mentioned the event in an article about Mr. Algren, and that attracted hundreds to the store on the day of the reading, which was standing room only.

That first reading started a tradition at Canio’s. Mr. Pavone began holding them regularly on Saturdays at 6 p.m., bringing in dozens of well-known authors and poets, including Margaret Atwood, Frank McCourt and Studs Terkel. The book reading became a staple for the business, and eventually Mr. Canio started hosting concerts and movie screenings at the shop as well. In 1983, Canio’s held its first “Moby-Dick” Marathon, a nonstop cover-to-cover reading that usually takes about a weekend to complete.

It’s those events that are what kept Canio’s going over the years, said Ms. Szoka, who took over the store with her business partner, Maryann Calendrille, in 1999. Since they took over, they introduced Canio’s Cultural Cafe, a not-for-profit composed of lectures, workshops, seminars and public forums circling around the purpose of engaging the community in cultural arts. They also plan to bring back the “Moby-Dick” Marathon this summer to celebrate the business’s 35th anniversary.

“Canio’s is about community. It’s not really just about books,” Ms. Szoka said. “It’s about serendipity, people coming into the store, meeting other people. And we are about offering programming with the community in mind. It’s not just about book signings.

“I suppose if it was just about books, we wouldn’t necessarily be having the same conversation,” she continued.

Ms. Szoka noted, though, that the way people read books today has changed the business a bit. In the digital age of e-readers, Canio’s has an inventory of titles online through AbeBooks.com that is accessible from its website. The store itself carries a wide variety of novels that are handpicked by Ms. Szoka and Ms. Calendrille with their customers in mind.

“We don’t necessarily have the best-sellers, for instance, but we have books that have lasting value,” Ms. Szoka said. “Each book is hand selected. That’s one of the main differences between Canio’s and a lot of other bookstores.”

Canio’s has been the only bookstore in Sag Harbor to survive as long as it has. As recently as 2013, BookHampton closed its Main Street location. But a new store, Harbor Books, moved into that same spot late last year.

All of it, though—the building for sale, literature’s shift to digital, and a new competitor—doesn’t seem to faze Ms. Szoka.

“It’s everyone’s dream to open a bookstore. So we certainly embrace that and understand that,” she said. “Many bookstores have come and gone in Sag Harbor. We welcome them when they’re here, but our main focus is what we do here, trying to do the best that we can.

“We don’t think the book is going anywhere,” she continued. “We think the book is the perfect package for the delivery of information. The book is like the cheapest vacation you’ll ever take. Once you open up a book, your imagination is immediately improved in many, many ways.”