It seems fitting that a book was the inspiration for Riffraff Bookstore + Bar’s name.
Tom Roberge, co-owner of the Providence business, credited the name to the 2014 French political piece, “To Our Friends,” which details the history of failed capitalist democracies, including the Greek government debt crisis of 2005. Those protesting the fiscal austerity measures were described as riffraff, Roberge recalled.
The name embodies what Roberge sees as a central mission of his business: defying the status quo. In his case, that means selling the books that others do not – political manifestos, works of underrepresented voices in literature and a heavy dose of translated pieces.
The latter is aided by his co-owner, Emma Ramadan, a Brown University graduate with a master’s degree in translation from a school in Paris. The two met in New York, where Roberge, an Ohio State University graduate who studied English literature, was working in publishing and Ramadan in French translation.
United by a shared love of great literature and stiff drinks, the two decided to turn their passion into a business, opening Riffraff in Olneyville in 2017.
Roberge explained the choice of a combination bar-bookstore, rather than the more pervasive cafe-bookstore, as intended to promote social gatherings.
“Cafes are places where people go to sit on their laptops,” he said. “They are not meeting places the way bars are.”
Since opening, Riffraff established itself as a go-to hangout for bibliophiles, with book clubs, author readings and discussion events designed to promote the kind of environment the co-owners envisioned.
Despite the rise of online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc., which has ushered in the demise of many brick-and-mortar booksellers, Roberge was confident that printed books from local sellers would never die.
“If it was going to happen, it would have happened by now,” he said.
The charm of browsing the shelves of a shop was an important part of the experience, he added.
“It’s not like buying a computer,” he said. “There’s value in coming and looking at the product.”
For Riffraff’s customers, that value has not returned since COVID-19 hit.
Even after the state’s stay-at-home orders were lifted and businesses allowed to reopen to limited customers, Riffraff has kept its store closed due to safety concerns.
Roberge resurrected some semblance of his former business model with limited hours on an outside patio. Each day, he and his employees haul 150 of the books from the store out to folding tables, set up the bar and seating areas, and hope the customers will come.
In the warmer months, it was working, but Roberge anticipated that come winter, the business would have to subsist solely on online sales and pickup orders.
He was hopeful, though, that online sales would increase when and if the outdoor patio closed, as they did when the pandemic first hit. Roberge attributed the prior uptick in sales to improvements to the store’s website and e-commerce platform, rather than a surge in interest in reading from those with more time on their hands and fewer alternative activities.
“People’s buying habits are largely the same,” he said. “We’re pretty much seeing the same customers we already had, but maybe they are buying a few more books.”
OWNERS: Tom Roberge and Emma Ramadan
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Bookstore and bar
LOCATION: 60 Valley St., Suite 107A, Providence
EMPLOYEES: Six
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 2017
ANNUAL SALES: WND
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
