TO OUR BOOK-LOVING FRIENDS
Welcome!
We are open for in-store foot traffic.
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Mondays 10:00am-3:30pm
Tuesdays 10:00am-3:30pm
Wednesdays - Closed
Thursdays 11:00am-3:30pm
Fridays 10:00am-3:30pm
Saturdays 10:00am-3:30pm
Sundays 11:00am-3:30pm
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Yippee!
The Book Mill is officially
OPEN for the season beginning
Thursday, June 12th.
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Thursdays - Sundays
11:00am-3:00pm
(and yes...we are also open July 4th!)
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At Shaker Mill Books, our customers come first and we pride ourselves on making sure you find exactly what you have in mind. If you need assistance, ideas, or special service, just ask and we’ll be happy to help.
We've Gone Green!
A note from Eric Wilska, Owner of Shaker Mill Books
Dear Book-Lovers, ​
Eric here. Like many of you, I've been thinking a lot about what I can do to help mitigate the effects of climate change. After educating myself about the carbon footprint of Shaker Mill Books, I've decided to decarbonize the bookshop--that is, I've removed our circa-1980s oil-burning furnace and replaced it with a commercial-scale electric heat pump, powered by a brand-new 10,000 kilowatt rooftop solar array. We no longer burn fossil fuels in this building, and we believe that we will soon be a Net Zero Energy business, generating more renewable electricity than we consume. I won't lie to you--this is a heavy lift for a small store like us, but I am confident that this is both the right thing to do for the planet and the right thing to do for the financial future of our store. By generating our own electricity and getting off the rollercoaster of global fossil fuel prices, we are going to save some real money. Incidentally, there are many healthy state and federal incentives now available for decarbonizing homes and businesses, and I'd be happy to share with you how we made it work. Stop on by. My next project is to install a bicycle rack and solar-powered electric car charger for customer use. Thank you for supporting our independent bookstore as we do our small part to accelerate the clean energy transition and ensure a livable future for our children and grandchildren.
Our new heating source:
an electric heat pump
Our old 275-gallon oil tank
Less space for oil, more space for books!
Gift Certificates
Not totally sure which book to get for that notoriously picky loved one? Consider purchasing a Shaker Mill Books gift certificate. Choose from our colorful selection of classic book jackets. Give us a call, send us an email, or stop on by! We'll make it happen.
ABOUT SHAKER MILL BOOKS
Our History
In 2012, longtime Berkshire bookstore owner Eric Wilska purchased the
property on Depot Street in West Stockbridge comprising both the building
that now houses Shaker Mill Books, and the adjacent Shaker Gristmill, long
a beloved local historic landmark.
The culmination of Eric’s decades of bookselling (he founded The Bookloft
in Great Barrington and owned it for 42 years), Shaker Mill Books is his
“retirement” dream and now boasts an eclectic collection of over 30,000
books: used, rare, antiquarian, out-of-print and some new. While there are
books for every interest (including a large children’s section), the shop’s
selections of photography and art books, as well as local history titles, are
particularly noteworthy.
Next door, the rustic and sprawling Shaker Mill has evolved from a
convenient storage place for not-yet-shelved books into a wonder-filled
display space that almost defies description. You’ll find dazzling oversize
books that don’t easily fit on the shelves and tables at Shaker Mill Books...
exquisitely bound or illustrated books of ordinary size that might be
overlooked on a crowded bookshelf elsewhere... whimsical literary
displays (e.g. Eric’s typewriter collection, which children are encouraged to
experiment with)... book-related art... and art made from books (local artist
Deb Carter’s magnificent gown, The Read Dress, created with countless
pages from The Oxford English Dictionary, always elicits gasps of wonder).
The sales counter itself is a work of art, designed and built entirely with
books by Eric’s son-in-law Anthony D’aniello.
