On the corner of Main and Market streets in Brockport stands Lift Bridge Book Shop – one of the few independent bookstores still in business. Started in 1972, the community fixture is marking its 50th anniversary with an Open House on Saturday, February 26, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. All are invited to stop by during the celebration that will feature in-store specials, book signings, and more.
Take a look back at how the business started and how it continues to thrive today by offering a personal touch.
The early days
by Archie and Pat Kutz
It was the fall of 1971. Brockport High School buddies Tim Fabrizio and Archie Kutz were back in town after their university days. Archie’s brother, David, said, “You should open a book store.”
And thus it began.
With the help and support of family members, the name Lift Bridge Book Shop was chosen and a Main Street location on the north side of the canal was found. The shop opened in January 1972 with a lot of paperbacks and the latest New York Times hardcover bestsellers. Business was slow on that quiet side of the canal.
Fortunately, a better location was found on the other side of the canal at 71 Main Street, using the street level of the Masonic Temple building. After a summer of work fixing and reorganizing, the store reopened in time for the beginning of the 1972 fall semester at SUNY Brockport. Much of the summer was also spent soliciting textbook orders from SUNY professors. All that hard work paid off. It was a very busy September and the beginning of a successful business model: selling college textbooks along with popular new general reading hardcovers and paperbacks, along with a line of office, school, and art supplies.
Archie took over the Brockport business when he bought Tim out in the mid 1980s. The friends maintained their partnership in the Fairport operation, Lift Bridge East. Also at that time Archie’s wife, Pat, became more involved with bookkeeping and the children’s book division in Brockport.
The Fairport store eventually closed. Lift Bridge II, selling art supplies and stationery, was opened in the current Jimmy Z’s location. In 1989, Pat opened Lift Bridge Kids in Spencerport, combining children’s books with a unique selection of educational (and non-electronic) toys. This eventually became Lift Bridge Kids in Brockport when the inventory of Lift Bridge II was brought back to the main store and all the children’s books from both Brockport and Spencerport were combined into the new Lift Bridge Kids in Brockport. Both the kids store and the book store became known for their events featuring authors and stimulating programs in addition to their wide inventory and textbook service.
Life went on. The Kutz family grew as the book shop continued, developing into a staff of 15. In the 1990s, Lift Bridge was the only full service, independently owned book shop between Rochester and Buffalo.
In 2001, the opportunity to buy the building at 45 Main Street allowed both Lift Bridge Book Shop and Lift Bridge Kids to combine into one location where the current operation continues to serve the wide community around Brockport.
A new chapter
by Anne Panning
I’ve been shopping at Lift Bridge since I first arrived in Brockport in 1997 as a brand new English professor at SUNY Brockport. It didn’t take my husband, Mark Rice, and me long to figure out this bookstore was something special. It’s definitely shaped the 25 years we’ve lived in Brockport like nowhere else has.
The current owners, Sarah and John Bonczyk, have become unofficial “stewards” of the village by providing a space to shop and to gather for everyone – parents browsing while their children are at dance class, random shoppers looking for a unique birthday present, students searching out used books or fidget toys, or, like me and my family, people shopping but also seeking a sense of connection and community when real life has blurred into online interaction and remote relationships.
“So, how’s Hudson doing at Pitt?” one of them will ask us. Or one of us will ask them, “How are the twins? Has Joey decided yet what he wants to study?” Sarah and John exude genuine warmth and interest in every person who walks through their doors. I’ve heard them comfort, laugh with, share troubles and triumphs, ask questions, and often lead someone to just what they may need at that time: a book, a hug, a puzzle. Brockport resident Sarah Cedeño considers Lift Bridge “a touchstone of my childhood. I spent hours there seeking journals and cool pens or browsing for books. It’s an organic and vital part of Brockport, and the main place shoppers can find books on Brockport’s history. What a gem.”
How does this place – a mere stone’s throw from the Erie Canal, in a small 19th-century village – survive the COVID pandemic, the 2008 financial collapse, 9/11, the dawn of e-books, and college textbook rentals, not to mention ice storms, bridge closures, and occasional road work that blocks Main Street?
It’s simple, actually: they care for us and for each other. They’re a safe harbor, a warm, cozy place to duck into on a cold, quiet afternoon. It’s not just books, although books are the bread and butter of the store. It’s also camaraderie, knowledge, belonging. There’s a chair and coffee table at the front of the store where I like to sit and narrow down which books to buy. But so often I sit there listening to the gentle hum of the store, greetings and invitations, advice shared and condolences given, and of course, kids running back to where they’ll find Mad Libs, slime, dump trucks, Dr. Seuss – you name it. I fondly recall spending hours with our kids there over the years; now that they’re grown, one at college, they still pop into Lift Bridge Book Shop to say hello, buy presents, books, and calendars. It’s been a place as steady to them as family and home.
Carter Soles, SUNY Brockport English professor, has been shopping here for over twenty years. “I’ve always experienced Lift Bridge as a warm and welcoming place, a kind of community hub for Brockport. That personal touch has been present across all phases of the shop’s ownership – if anything, the Bonczyks have amplified the store’s family atmosphere.”
This is what Lift Bridge Book Shop is, after all: a place where you are known, whether it’s your first time in the store or your 100th. The Bonczyks will welcome you with open arms.
