Pass by Fitz’s Books and Waffles on a Sunday and your next favorite book may just be only $1.
Since late July, the store, located by the metrorail’s Utica station, has held sidewalk sales every weekend, consisting of a wide array of books for just $2 on Saturday and $1 on Sunday. Passersby and patrons can rifle through the books at the carts right outside of the shop.
Aaron Bartley — the bookstore’s owner and founder — hopes that the sidewalk sales can encourage others to come back.
“Even if someone only spends $1 at the sale,” he said. “After that $1, they know Fitz is there and may stop when they’re driving by, or go visit again.”
The books sitting on the carts reflect the store’s overall inventory: new and used books in genres including classic literature, poetry, history and critical theory.
Bartley is dedicated to scouring far and wide for reading material to ensure there is something for everyone at Fitz’s. He’s sorted through over 3,000 books, scrounged estate sales, and accepted book donations.
The collected surplus of books is a major reason why Bartley is able to sell them at such a low price.
It starts with the people of Buffalo, according to him.
“There's a glut of books in the world right now. The generation of my parents: just these active intellectual readers. Many of them stayed around Buffalo,” he said. “Some of them passed away, and there's just a tremendous amount of books. And then we get them everyday.”
And when you get your book, don’t forget the “waffles” part in Fitz’s Books and Waffles.
The shop also sells housemade Belgian waffles with a selection of in-store wine, beer, coffee and ice cream. Anyone can come in and relish in a book and a treat in the welcoming storefront or the cycling art galleries featured in the back.
“It helps us build this whole thing about third spaces where people come to a space that's a bookstore, but they meet people or they connect to something that they didn't know about, ” Bartley said.
The pairing has roots in one of Bartley’s cherished memories.
Over 20 years ago in Cincinnati, Bartley discovered a small Belgian waffle stand in a quaint outdoor market, the waffle was the best he ever had. Now, that small market has become a waffle empire — Taste of Belgium — in Ohio.
When Bartley launched the store, he thought a full blown cafe would be too much to manage, so he chose to make and sell waffles instead. He learned how to make the dough the way the stand did, and now, they’ve become a staple at Fitz’s.
Beyond the waffles and books, Bartley has a greater mission to engage readers in Buffalo.
“You relax differently. You take in information differently,” he says. “I don't think anything beats it for trying to understand the state of the world.”
Maria Fayyaz is the assistant features editor and can be reached at maira.fayyaz@ubspectrum.com.
The features desk can be reached at features@ubspectrum.com.
Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
