Today we’d like to introduce you to Emma Ramadan.
Emma, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My co-owner Tom Roberge and I first met when Tom was working at the French Embassy’s bookstore in New York City, Albertine. I am a translator of French literature, and Tom read one of my translations and reached out to me. A few weeks later, I walked into Albertine, and the path to opening Riffraff was begun. We had both been working in the book industry and had both dreamed for a long time of opening a bookstore and bar, inspired by other bookstore/bars throughout the country such as Spotty Dog in Hudson, New York, and The Wild Detectives in Dallas, Texas. In a time when independent bookstores are becoming less sustainable, pairing a bookstore with a bar is the perfect match and a way to promote the community and social aspect of a bookstore.
A year after meeting, Tom and I moved to Rhode Island, where I had gone to college and where Tom’s family used to live, to open Riffraff. Providence seemed like the perfect town to open Riffraff: a city with a thriving independent business community where locals like to shop locally; no other bookstores along the lines of what Riffraff was aspiring to be (specializing in small presses, books in translation, political and topical nonfiction); a city with a vibrant arts community; and a city where Tom and I could see ourselves living for the foreseeable future. A year and a half after moving, Tom and I opened Riffraff bookstore and bar on December 5, 2017, just in time for the holiday shopping season. And now we’ve been over for just over, we celebrated our one year anniversary in December!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Getting open was by far the most difficult part of the experience so far. Navigating the systems and checklists and inspections and making sure we were aware of what was needed from us was a very difficult and confusing process. Now that we’ve made it to the other side, most challenges seem more manageable by comparison. But the challenge of any bookstore or neighborhood bar is figuring out what customers want and adjusting stock accordingly. For example, we’ve brought in a lot more essay collections and nonfiction about nature to reflect customer requests, and more young adult books and cookbooks. On the bar side, we’ve brought in cheaper wine and more experimental flavored beers. It’s all a learning process, but we fine-tune a little bit every week.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Riffraff story. Tell us more about the business.
Riffraff bookstore and bar is a full bookstore and a full bar. The space is divided roughly in half, though still interconnected, by a row of bookshelves, so customers can browse the books with or without a drink in hand while bar customers can sit at the bar or on the couches and other seats. The bookstore has everything from literary fiction to science fiction to essays to nonfiction to politics to poetry to children’s and young adult books. We also have art books, cookbooks, graphic novels, cocktail and bar books, and other smaller gift books. We have cards and stationery as well. We have a wide range, but in our 5000-book store, it’s a very curated selection, and we are known for having smaller independent presses, books in translation, political and topical nonfiction, and literary fiction. Our stock is always changing as new releases are published, and our staff picks are always growing.
We get customers who only want to look at books, and customers who only want to have a drink, and customers who want to experience both, browsing the shelves with a beer or cocktail in hand.
We have a full liquor license and offer everything from beer, cider, sake, and wine to our list of $8 and $10 cocktails. We also offer a full menu of coffee and tea drinks, and for those who can’t decide, we offer boozy coffee and tea drinks as well.
We are an inclusive, welcoming, cozy space, and we work hard to get the details right. If you come in and are looking for a specific kind of book, we’ll spend as much time with you as you need until we find a book that checks your boxes. We’re also known for our cocktail menu, which changes at least once every season.
We host literary events almost every Wednesday night, featuring discussions between the author and a local community member, and we’re also available for others to have their events in our space. We also host our own book club once a month.
We are open from 11am-midnight Tuesday-Saturday, and 11am-8pm on Sunday. Closed Monday. When we’re open, both the bookstore and the bar are open, meaning you can grab a drink or coffee at 11 am and a book until midnight.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
You could call it luck or you could call it fate that Tom and I met when we did, and we both happened to share a vision for a bookstore/bar.
Contact Info:
- Address: 60 Valley Street
Unit 107A
Providence, RI 02909(in the courtyard of The Plant) - Website: www.riffraffpvd.com
- Phone: 4014214371
- Email: info@riffraffpvd.com
- Instagram: riffraffpvd
- Facebook: facebook.com/riffraffpvd
- Twitter: riffraffpvd
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/riffraff-bookstore-and-bar-providence
Image Credit:
Photos of Emma and Emma & Tom in store: Katya Potkin, Atomic Clock / @thisisatomicclock
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
