Laura Bellizzi is the woman you’ve seen behind the counter at Binnacle Books quite often. You can tell she loves to read, and loves to be surrounded by books. When you try to special order your book from Binnacle Books through her, however, she will side-eye you, and tell you to talk to Binnacle’s website. Which you then do that night, to order your copy of “Secrets of Divine Love” by A. Helwa. When you come back a week later to pick it up, she hands it to you with a smile, saying “Enjoy!” with her classic eyebrow raise.

Laura was determined to work at Binnacle Books. It took her 6 times of coming into the shop, asking for a job. Finally, there was an opportunity to hire her. That was in 2016. She told ALBB: “It’s always been my dream to work in a bookstore, own a bookstore. This bookstore in particular has always been one of my greatest loves. Years later, my business partners offered me the partnership, and it’s a dream come true. I dropped everything else I was doing to come in and do this.” Laura remains committed and pleased to be there as ever, as she regularly styles herself comfortably in her keffiyeh.

Beacon as community supports Binnacle. Laura said: “As an independent bookstore, people want to see them thrive. There was a period of time when there was the fear that Amazon and all of these other forces were going to destroy the bookshop. I think a lot of people, in Beacon in particular, really rallied behind them.”

Tourists come from all over just to come to Binnacle Books in Beacon. “We have a lot of local support. A lot of regulars who pop in all the time.” Anyone can order just about any book from Binnacle’s website, and then enjoy a walk or ride down to pick it up.

“It’s not just a bookshop,” Laura told ALBB. “This is a community resource.” One of Laura’s favorite programs is the Prison Books Project, where incarcerated people write what books they want, and “sponsors” aka regular people, buy the books, and Binnacle Books ships the books to them. Binnacle Books works through the mail system, as opposed to working with the facilities. The Prison Books Project is all volunteer based. Binnacle Books just established a separate 501-C3 status just for this project. Other bookstores are also now involved with the project.

The food pantry at Binnacle Books continues, with Fareground and Beacon 4 Black Lives. It’s one of the only food pantry locations that has a refrigerator and a cupboard.