Chevalier’s Books has expanded its management team, with a new general manager. Casey Poma, who joined the staff in September, will be managing the operations side of the business along with Miles Parnegg, who took over as manager last May when Katie Orphan left. Parnegg told the Buzz that Poma brings extensive operational knowledge to the bookstore from his years working in other bookstores in the city.
“With Casey running the day-to-day operations, I will focus on event programming like bringing more authors into the bookstore, popup book shops, and creating book-adjacent events like our recent zine workshop to offer our customers interesting book-related activities in the store,” explained Parnegg. “Together we will have more time to think about ways Chevalier’s can serve our community from our unique perspective as the oldest independent bookstore in the city.”
Poma and Parnegg said they want to serve the local community and beyond, noting that Larchmont has become more of a destination. They want Chevalier’s Books to be a must-stop part of a visit to Larchmont.
“We want to stock the store with best sellers, books by local authors, and then really cool smart books that we can introduce to our customers,” said Poma. “If you say you like this, we can suggest what else you might like, sort of translating your interests into book recommendations.”
“We have a great staff of people who love to read and have a deep knowledge of books, it’s like having a collective database in everyone’s head,” said Poma. “We all have different expertise so we can help our customers find lots of kinds of books.”
It’s been three years since Chevalier’s moved into their newest location on Larchmont. The shop has seen a steady increase in foot traffic and the new store has more space for books on the floor, a larger children’s reading area, and space for special events with authors.
“We can accommodate nearly 85 people at a book signing now, in our old space, we could only seat about 30,” said Parnegg.
Both Parnegg and Poma enjoy reading but readily admit, they don’t read every book that comes into the store.
“We just sound like we do!” joked Parnegg.
If you haven’t finished your holiday shopping, stop in and check out their holiday catalog. We are kind of partial to the cover art!
