by Anthony Rifilato
"Right in the front," Reinhart replied, and directed the reader to the haunting Ray Bradbury novel, which, of all things, is about burning books.
Oak Tree Bookstore, located at 674 Sunrise Hwy. in the Waldbaum's Shopping Center, is the only bookstore in Baldwin. There are no Barnes and Noble's or B. Dalton, complete with their comfy couches and Starbucks lounges.
Aside from the Baldwin Public Library, it may seem that Bradbury's tale of book eradication had come to fruition in Baldwin.
As the slow demise of the independent book store has given way to strip-mall behemoths and caffeinated readers, Oak Tree Books is Baldwin's calm literary beacon.
"We're getting good business, but a lot of people don't know we're here," Reinhart said, who noted the store's three-year presence. "We want the community to come in and feel comfortable."
True, Oak Tree is void of the vast space and dense shelves of books which grace the big chains. A quick comparison: The average Barnes and Noble store has over 100,000 books in about 20,000 square feet. Oak Tree has over 3,000 books in a fraction of the space.
But the store is thriving, with seven exclusively on Long Island --three in Nassau and four in Suffolk. As the only bookstore in town, Oak Tree is doing its best to enrich and cultivate ties the community. They are able to do that, Reinhart said, because the store is an antithesis to the huge, impersonal chains.
"We're more personal and our staff have a thorough knowledge of books," Reinhart said. "We have big readers working here." Reinhart said there's no need to look up their titles in a computer, because they know what is in stock, and if you're looking for that John Cheever novel or Henry James classic not in stock, Oak Tree is big on orders.
"Depending if they're popular with the publishers, we can get titles in a week to 10 days," Reinhart said.
Some of the popular titles at Oak Tree include financial books and computer how-to books.
"Getting out of stocks is a popular one now," said Reinhart, who also noted the abundance of classics as well as a great selection of new hardcover novels.
Titles surrounding Sept. 11 have generated interest, Reinhart said, and a popular book is "Among the Heroes" by Jere Longman, which is about the passengers on Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania.
And the store is paying attention to the needs of young people in town. They have many of the titles that are required reading for the Middle School and Senior High Schools, as well as Regents and SAT review books.
"We have Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima and Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier," Reinhart said, just two required novels that parents are frantically clinching for the start of school year.
Also big is the children's section, which the store has devoted a significant amount of time and space to. Harry Potter is still huge and C.S. Lewis, a popular author of children's history books, as well as Judy Bloom and Juney B. Jones are still strong with kids.
Terry Cambridge, a Baldwin resident who was shopping for her nephews at the store last week, said it was nice to finally have a local bookstore. "There's very friendly service and I feel the employees enjoy the books. They encourage readers," said Cambridge, who said she would like to see Saturday book discussions in the store someday.
Oak Tree will be having its first book signing in November, by the 12-year-old Baldwin author Brittney M. Grimes. "We hope to have more signings," Reinhart said.
In the upcoming weeks the store will be undergoing some changes. In September they'll be expanding and redoing their sections. There will be a grand re-opening as well in September, with book discounts and a dynamic store window.
But don't expect the coffee bar any time soon. Reinhart said they have more personal ideas.
"We'd like to set up a reading section for kids and for adults as well. This is a bookstore not a coffee shop," Reinhart said.
