By Melanie Cordova

Days are usually quiet in the used and out-of-print bookstore, Three Geese in Flight Books. It is typical to find only manager, Genevieve Robinson, inside packaging books for internet customers who have preferred to purchase their Arthurian and Celtic literature online rather than come into the store. 

‚ÄúMost of our sales come from internet buyers,‚Äù Robinson said, ‚ÄúI don’t see people who come in who live nearby often.‚Äù

Located on Elm Street, Three Geese in Flight Books has become one of the last bookstores in Somerville. Never a big business in the area, with usually three or four at the most, Somerville’s bookstores have been left behind in the trend according to the American Booksellers Association, which reports an overall growing number of independent bookstore openings in 2007.

‚ÄúThe bookstore business has fun and magic inherent. Dry cleaners don’t,‚Äù Three Geese in Flight Books owner Samuel Wenger said ‚ÄúBut it’s a hard way to make a living.‚Äù

‚ÄúThe rents are impossible. I have a fair rent and a good landlord, but it comes at the price of very little bookstore traffic,‚Äù Wegner said. The price of rent has been one of the reasons why Somerville bookstores have been closing, including the Davis Square bookstore McIntyre and Moore Booksellers, which closed last April and relocated to Cambridge’s Porter Square.

‚ÄúFor us, it was just too much for rent,‚Äù co-owner of the used, rare, and out-of-print bookstore, Daniel Moore, said. ‚ÄúIt was nice to hear people say they were going to miss us but they didn’t really buy anything when we there.‚Äù

Among the changes McIntyre and Moore Booksellers had to make was the cancellation of the local author events it used to host. The smaller location makes it difficult to hold such community gatherings.

Ifeanyi Menkiti, Somerville resident, Wellesley College professor, and owner of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge, said, ‚ÄúIt’s an immeasurable loss that cannot be quantified in monetary value‚Äù in regards to Somerville’s loss of bookstores.

‚ÄúBookstores are the life blood of a community, they bring a sense of culture and an enrichment of   minds,‚Äù Menkiti said, ‚Äúthere are so many wonderful writers in this city, bookstores are especially important here.‚Äù

Although Moore agrees that bookstores are a resource for a community, Moore said he feels “in general bookstores are threatened.”

“The only way to have a bookstore is to have an internet business on the side,” said Wegner, who sells many of his books through Amazon.com and Alibris.com, online stores which sell new and used books.

Wegner said people are big readers contrary to popular belief, and believes that once people know he is in Somerville, Three Geese in Flight will do well. “I just hope I can survive. I live off of this.”