A Quarter Century of Collecting Titles and Appreciating Customers

Originally published in the Marist Circle. Photo by Judith Wolff

Stepping into A New Leaf bookstore in Pine Plains is nothing short of a reader’s dream: From biographies to fantasies, mysteries to memoirs, thousands of used books line the walls of five first-floor rooms. Trinkets and photographs fill the gaps on the bookshelves, artwork hangs on the walls, and chairs in the corners offer cozy spots to sit and page through a volume.

The collection continues on the second floor, with books on dance, drama, humor, sports, and more. Through the store and out the back door lies a lush green yard with spots to sit and soak up the sun during warmer seasons. And behind the desk near the entrance on Church Street sits Ginger Dowd, who co-founded A New Leaf 26 years ago.

There’s nowhere she would rather be. “Why would I want to sit home and watch TV all the time?” Dowd said with a smile.

Over decades of curating the collection, Dowd has become well-versed in the preferences of customers. “Certain categories I’ll always take — for example, paperback mysteries,” she said. “I have a whole room of paperback mysteries. Mystery readers are interested in books from any time frame, whereas romance readers want to read the latest book, which is why I have almost no romance.”

Dowd has also learned that a bookstore in a small town is often a place of interest for travelers, who spot A New Leaf while driving by. “100%, my favorite part of running the store is meeting people from all over the country and all over the world,” she said. An avid international traveler herself, Dowd learned to speak Portuguese, German, and Spanish, and studied Italian, French, and Latin.

“People come in and they’re speaking Spanish and they have no idea that I know what they’re saying,” she said.

The store didn’t always look this full; collecting thousands of books over a wide variety of genres is no easy feat. 

In 1982, Dowd, who lived in New York City while working in advertising and had a weekend house in Ancram, decided she wanted to spend all of her time upstate. She moved to Pine Plains and took a job in radio sales.

Eventually, she grew tired of traveling around the Hudson Valley for work and wanted a local gig. “I said to Jim, ‘Have you ever thought of having a business?’ And he said, ‘Maybe books?’” 

Jim Polk, her business partner, had been a book critic for The New York Times and an assistant professor of English at Marist University. Dowd, who always enjoyed reading, liked the idea: “All I wanted to do was work in town.”

In 1999, they began renting the building on Church Street that’s now occupied by Barber Shoppe & Shaving Parlor. The next step was the most essential and most challenging: accumulating the books. Dowd began by visiting library sales and thrift stores, and accepting any donations she could find. 

“I had no idea what people wanted to read, so I would pick up whatever I wanted to read,” she said. “By the time we moved [to the current location], I had a better idea of what people wanted. Still, it’s always changing, and it depends on who’s coming in.”

Dowd and Polk wanted to buy a place for their business, and in 2005, they purchased the two-story house at 2986 Church. It offered a larger and permanent spot just a few doors down from its original store. 

Around this time, A New Leaf became digital, listing its products on the internet and selling them through Amazon and other online marketplaces — a move that proved crucially beneficial during the pandemic, especially for Dowd. She could still come into the store and get out of the house while selling her books online. 

“It was great that I was able to come into work every day,” she said. “Then, finally, I could open the door and let people come in — wearing masks, of course.” 

At the peak of online sales, Dowd said she listed 7,000 titles before running out of shelf space. After she focused on moving most of that inventory, 2,000 books remain available on the internet, with an additional 6,000 in-store.

With more shelf space available, Dowd and Polk can now accept most of the donations they receive. No matter how long a book sits on the shelf, Dowd said — based on her quarter century of experience — she would never throw one away: “Someone will buy it, even 25 years later. You never know.”

As a Pine Plains resident for over 40 years, she has witnessed the town’s growth and transformation, including the arrival of other bookstores. Instead of viewing them as a threat to her business, she takes them as a positive.

“People think everything is a competition,” Dowd said, “but I just think it’s reminding people that they can read!”