Atlantis Books, Santorini, Greece: Bookstore Interview

 

My sister and brother-in-law are currently on their way to Greece, and I am insanely jealous not because they’re going to Greece, but because they’ll see Atlantis Books and I am not entirely sure I ever will.

To say the store is beautiful is an understatement. First, the outside — obviously. If you worked at a place like this, would you ever want to leave?

See what I’m saying? The store began as a dream — the kind of thing you’d never think of doing, but a couple of friends in England did exactly that — they had a dream and they made it a reality. I had the pleasure of talking to Craig Walzer about that dream and Atlantis Books.

From what I read about the store, its beginning sounded like a carefree idea that became successful — would that be accurate?

Except ‘successful’ would be a generous word. I would say it was pretty much spur of the moment. Nobody expected it to grow; it was just one of those things you chat about when you are bored on a winter night in college or something. I remember one time I was like “Oh I am going to do this when I am a freshman in college.” I have not thought about this in years but my friend Noah and I decided that when we graduated college we would spend a year bowling, American bowling. We figured if we spent a year doing that then we would become good enough to be professionals because it’s just one basic act you are repeating over and over.

The store started out as a thought and after a couple of coincidences and people, the idea gained momentum. We opened it up and here we are 10 years later and it hasn’t closed yet.

Did you ever think you would be celebrating your 10 year anniversary with the store?

We did, we hoped we would. It was always the plan that if we could get it up and running, it would gather a critical mass of energy and perpetuate itself and that’s kind of what’s happened. There have been consistent injections of new blood, enough to keep it flowing and circulating and when we originally did it we joked that if we could keep it around long enough for our kids to run it then we would be in great shape! And Oliver, one of the fellows who was in on the original idea, has a three-year-old now, so we just need to make it 15 more years!

In 15 years what would you like the store to be?

Hopefully it will still be on the cliff side and not fallen into the ocean! I am not really particular about it as long as the people are still enjoying it and it is doing a good thing, then it doesn’t really matter.

We would like to grow, we have ideas, and we are looking right now for investors who are interested in helping us build a bit of a writers and artists colony on the island to do things with the national book centre — which is in Greece and is sort of repurposing itself right now.

We would like to keep printing stuff and build our own print shop. We are working on doing that to make more stuff — we want to have our own little letter press and printing studio on the island. Those are just ideas, we keep redecorating every once in a while and just keep chugging along and that is pretty good too — we just keep doing whatever keeps us happy.

I was reading about your first visit to Santorini and part of the idea behind the store was it because you could not find a book store on the island or you couldn’t find a bookstore you liked on the island?

We were in Santorini and we were looking for books in English on a small island in the Mediterranean so we were not horrified or anything like that. There was a press shop in the main town that had a shelf of Dan Brown and Stephen King type stuff, but we are an elitist liberal arts group and we were not satiated by them.

As a result, we played more cards than we would have played otherwise and figured it would have been nice if there were some more stuff to read around.

How did the locals on the island take to the store?

Really well! Some of them were a little bit more suspicious and some of them still joke about conspiracies around the island — they think we are a CIA outpost or something like that. A group of them were very warm, accepting and excited to have something like this in the village, it was filling a need. And some just let us do our own thing. They were a little bit suspicious, understandably so, of these young smelly strangers who were coming and trying to set up shop in the middle of their town but over the years we have proven ourselves to just about everybody and now I think we are just one of the characters of the village.

When tourists or holidaymakers walk into the store what do you suppose they expect compared to what is actually in the store?

I am not sure, it varies of course as there are many expectations as there are people. I can tell you there some people come in and expect exactly what they see, in that they expect to see a good quality, cute, independent shop that is trying to do its thing.

A lot of them are looking for a good Instagram shot and are just coming in for the touristic curiosity of it. A lot of people have no expectations, they had no idea we existed and we just caught their eye. They had the tenacity to make the trek down the stairs and they had no idea what they were going into. It’s fun to see people who had no expectations whatsoever.

Can you describe where the store is? You said earlier it was on the edge of a cliff.

Yeah, the village is built on the edge of a cliff. The island experienced a volcanic eruption, and the bottom fell out, so you have a crescent and on the inside of the crescent is a sheer cliff. So there is a long, narrow marble road that leads through the village, and basically just outlines the shape of it. We are along the road, so the front of the shop faces the road and from the terrace behind us you can see the sea.

You guys now have an art a literature festival at the store or in the village, how did that come about?

We were just bored and wanted to try it out!

Well, fair enough, as you do when you are bored! How long has it been running for?

The third one is actually coming up the weekend of July 4^th this year and it is going to be our biggest yet. Two of the founders of the shop are getting married to kick off the festival, so that is a good guarantee it can’t all be a bad time.

At this stage can you give me a hint about what sort of guests or events other than the wedding you will be having there?

Paul Murray is coming, the author of Skippy Dies, a poet who is out in California now, a few more writers we are sorting it out right now. But there will be a few more writers coming from Greece; from the continent; a concert hall pianist is going to come and play; a 12-piece Bulgarian brass band; and there will be some cooking exhibitions and a DJ — the most popular DJ — in Greece is coming.

A lot of the other stores I have been interviewing have all expanded their events and the things they hold and are becoming more cultural centres. They expose people to authors, artists and events, things readers can’t get through digital publishing and e-publishing and all that, is that something you worry about?

Worry wouldn’t be the right word, we are in a different situation to most of the book stores out there. We are so remotely located on a quintessentially tourist island so we don’t have a regular cliental. I am here in New York and a lot of the book stores are doing great, having writing seminars where people know they can come, have a beer and listen to someone talk about what they are currently doing. It’s a consistent social outlook. We don’t have that pressure in the same way — keeping a presence on social media and that sort of stuff — and that’s nice because I wouldn’t have to temerity to do it anyhow.

When we came to the village there really wasn’t much of that stuff because of the nature of the population, and of the industry during the tourist season, there’s no time. Everyone is working from 10 in the morning until midnight, it’s not like we are going to go out and do those things. We fill that gap with films on our terrace, hosting vagabond musicians once in a while, just having a public space where people can just come and hang out.

I think it is an important thing, it’s not expected but it can happen and in a place like a bookshop, as opposed to a t-shirt shop or an audio equipment store, it is a testimony to the uniqueness of the endeavour. I think it is a good thing, whatever brings in people and gets them in the mood I am all for.

Thanks, Craig! Atlantis Books is officially on my bucket list — what about yours!?