MEET OUR MEMBER: RUNNING THE GOAT BOOKS

“We are often in the midst of printing when folks drop by, and it’s always lovely to bring them into the back and let them see how the presses work—to remind them how books used to be made!”

Running the Goat is a special independent bookstore and micropress in Tors Cove, NL. The shop, which primarily serves tourists, carries a small but thoughtfully curated collection of books as well as letterpress-printed books, cards, and ephemera—many of which are printed in house! We spoke with Marnie Parsons, Publisher, Printer, and Bookseller, about this dreamy shop and what she loves about being an indie bookseller.

Can you tell us a bit about the history of the store?

Our shop has been evolving since 2014, when we first opened in the lovely outport of Tors Cove. Running the Goat started as a letterpress publisher and began publishing commercially printed children’s books in 2009. Initially, the shop featured our own publications—both letterpress and commercially printed. It was, after all, the printshop where are vintage presses are and where we make our handmade books! We also featured letterpress work and prints by other printers in the St. John’s area. It soon became clear that visitors to the area were interested in a wider variety of books, so we started carrying titles by other local publishers.  Within a few years, we expanded even further, carrying a range of gorgeous children’s books and work from major distributors and small presses.

In early 2020, just before the pandemic, the only indie bookstore in St. John’s closed. With no indie bookstore on the Avalon Peninsula (the major population area of the province), it made sense to further increase our bookstore activities. We established an online bookstore and continued to expand our stock.

For almost four years we had separate websites for the store and the publishing house, but we’re very excited to have launched a new website this year that blends both aspects of our business: bookshop and micropress. It launched in March on the Shopify platform and we’re eager to see how the combined website raises the profile of both the bookstore and the publishing house.

Can you describe the store for us—what can visitors expect when they stop by or shop online? 

The shop is very small, but we think lovely and welcoming. The back area of the shop (about 3/4 of the floor plan) is our printshop. It’s home to three vintage printing presses: an iron handpress from the 1830s, a treadle platen press from the 1880s, and a more “modern” electric hand-fed proofing press from the 1960s. Visitors are welcome to come see the presses as well as our collections of wood and metal type.

We have several shelves of new books and feature our own publications on special shelves made by a friend. The plexiglass shelves are supported by brightly coloured letters. We also carry some other local products—pottery, artisanal salt, teas etc. Many of these are displayed on an antique wood cookstove.

The online store features both RTG publications and all the other titles in our shop. It includes a special category for letterpress work, which features not only our own work, but also work by other NL printers that we carry in the shop. The website also has digital download options for RTG’s e-books and audiobooks.

The website includes information about our neighbourhood, with information about other things to do in the area and local restaurants to visit. It provides insights about our name (which is taken from a traditional NL dance) as well as extra resources like animated book trailers, colouring sheets, and YouTube interviews connected to our publications. We even provide downloadable catalogues for our children’s publications.

What kinds of books do you carry? Has your approach to curation changed since you opened? 

Initially we focussed on our own publications, but it quickly became clear that we needed to carry more books. Our focus is on local (NL) titles, beautiful children’s books, nature writing, and letterpress work. We’ve expanded our offerings considerably over the years. The selection is very much governed by my tastes, so there are a lot of quiet mysteries, Irish fiction, poetry, and books about books!

What is something readers would be surprised to learn about your bookstore?

I suppose that it is also a working printshop. We are often in the midst of printing when folks drop by, and it’s always lovely to bring them into the back and let them see how the presses work—to remind them how books used to be made! Also, because we are in a very rural location and off the main road, our clientele is still predominantly tourists. We’re working on getting more visitors from the city down to see us.

Oh, and sometimes we can see whales spouting or icebergs out the window. Those days we have been known to put a note on the door telling folks we’ve darted down to the harbour for a few minutes and will be back soon. We’re pretty casual.

What do you love most about being an independent bookseller?

I love putting beautiful books in the hands of readers—especially young readers! That’s very important to me. I also love the conversations that I have in the shop. Some visitors come almost annually (tourists, I mean) and it’s always great to catch up on what they’ve been at in the intervening time.