Phoenix Books will move into the space on Church Street formerly occupied by Slate

Mystery solved. Phoenix Books is moving into the space on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace formerly occupied by Slate, a high-end home furnishings store.

Phoenix Books Owner Renee Reiner said the move from the bookstore's current location on Bank Street, near City Market, marks an opportunity for growth. Reiner gave the Burlington Free Press a tour of the new Church Street location last week.

Even though Phoenix Books' current location is close to Church Street, that's just not the same as being on Church Street, Reiner said. "Who doesn't want to be on Church Street?"

The two stores have about the same square footage of roughly 7,000 square feet, but the sales floor in the new location will be entirely on the ground floor, whereas the Bank Street location has books on two floors. The new location will have a second floor as well, but it will be reserved for events such as authors' talks and panel discussions, as well as offices and a break room for employees.

More:Businesses open, close and change location on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace

Reiner said her husband and business partner, Michael DeSanto, also has tentative plans for "a small black box theater" in the space − a "mini Main Street Landing," as well as small acoustic concerts.

"The sky's the limit," she said.

Leaving the Boston grind behind for a bookstore in Vermont

Reiner and DeSanto moved to Vermont in 1995 from Boston after buying a bookstore in Winooski's Champlain Mill called The Book Rack and Children's Pages. The couple wanted to escape the grind of Boston and brainstormed about how to do it.

Reiner said her husband posed several possibilities, including buying a bed and breakfast or a Mail Boxes, Etc. franchise. She responded to the latter idea by making it clear she was not interested in selling bubble wrap for a living. DeSanto's next idea was to buy a bookstore.

"Let's do that," Reiner replied.

Reiner and DeSanto started perusing industry newsletters to find bookstores for sale in Vermont, and found a couple.

"We approached those, and in true capitalist fashion, the seller always thinks the value is here and the buyer thinks the value is here, so those didn't work," Reiner said, using her hands to show the gap between what sellers wanted and what she and her husband were willing to pay.

It was time for Plan B. The couple sent 45 letters to bookstore owners in Vermont, explaining who they were and what they were trying to do. They received nine replies, one of which was from the owner of the bookstore in the Champlain Mill that they ended up buying.

"I walked into that store at Champlain Mill and said, 'We are done, this is Michael's store,'" Reiner remembered. "And that's the bookstore we bought. We didn't look at any others. The Champlain Mill was gorgeous and it was a beautiful, lovely bookstore."

The move to Essex when Winooski tears up its streets in the name of redevelopment

The couple owned and operated the Champlain Mill bookstore from 1995 to 2001, when they relocated to Essex. Winooski was undergoing redevelopment and retail was struggling despite the city's best efforts to mitigate the torn-up streets. Soon after moving to Essex, IBM went through one of its many layoffs.

"As soon as those unemployment checks stopped, our sales tanked," Reiner said. "At that point we were cranky too. We were tired. We sold that business."

The couple sold it to their assistant manager, who unfortunately, Reiner said, couldn't make a go of it. When it closed in 2007, DeSanto announced he was not done with the bookstore business. He was going to open another bookstore in Essex, in the same shopping mall where the previous store had been − now known as Essex Experience − but he would do it alone.

"We're not going to work together as business partners because we're life partners, we're married to each other, and that's not easy for a couple to do," Reiner remembers DeSanto telling her. "He wouldn't just do what I say. That was a problem. Can you imagine?"

DeSanto opened Phoenix Books − the first Phoenix Books − in Essex in 2007. Then,in 2011 Borders bookstore, the national chain that had a location on Church Street, announced it was going out of business. The Church Street store was shuttered. DeSanto made another announcement. He was packing up Phoenix Books and moving it downtown. Reiner told him he couldn't do that.

"You love this store, you built this store from the ground up," Reiner told her husband. "This store is fabulous. The community is supporting us. We're making a profit. You can't relocate this store. Let's build a second store."

DeSanto had a simple reply. They didn't have the money to build a second store.

"I said, 'That's true, but you know, we can raise the money,'" Reiner replied. "He said, 'Really?'"

Fundraising campaign brings in enough to open a second location in Burlington

Reiner raised about $425,000 for the new store through a combination of $10,000 loans from supportive community members, $1,000 contributions redeemable in books once the store opened, and $100 memberships to the store's book club.

"It was grand fun," Reiner said. "Lucky us."

Phoenix Books opened in downtown Burlington on Bank Street in 2012. Soon after, the couple received a call from Steve Costello, who worked in communications for Green Mountain Power for many years before retiring recently. Costello asked them to do the same thing for Rutland they had done for Burlington. Open a bookstore with community support.

"So Michael went down (to Rutland)," Reiner said. "They did the whole dog and pony show with the mayor and the state rep and Steve to walk him around and sell him on the idea."

A third Phoenix Books opened in Rutland in 2015, in partnership with a local partner, in addition to community fundraising. DeSanto and Reiner own a 75% stake in the store. Their next venture, buying an existing bookstore in Chester, did not work out.

"We jettisoned that one," Reiner said. "We didn't have a local owner and I think the community had a hard time that we were from away. Also, Chester was struggling. Back in the day they had 17 bed and breakfasts in that little community. By the time we got there, they had three."

Partnerships with bookstores in Woodstock and Brandon worked out better, and Reiner and DeSanto are majority owners in both of those businesses, Yankee Bookshop and The Bookstore respectively.

Reiner hopes to open in the new location on Church Street by the end of August, "if all the stars align."

Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.