Tuesday, March 17, 2009


Carrels & coffee

Danielle Covatta waits on a customer at a new Sam's Cafe location inside Forbes Library in Northampton.

NORTHAMPTON - Forbes Library has a new branch - of Sam's Cafe.

For the past four years, the Smith College art museum's atrium - a frequent shortcut for me - has also been home to Sam's Cafe, a delightful spot for a snack or light lunch, a special coffee or tea. Samantha Ross, who had been the manager of CK's Cafe, her predecessor at the museum, got the contract and started her own choice little eatery in 2005.

I stopped at the museum last week (Ross will continue to operate her cafe there too) as she was plating a batch of delectable-looking cookies and cupcakes for a customer.

Ross, 43, said she barely breathed a word of her museum business even to friends until she felt she had made a go of it. But word got out, and eventually Forbes Library, which had been casting about for someone to run a food concession, came calling.

Library director Janet Moulding said Forbes has allowed food in the reading rooms for a couple of years, and patron surveys indicated a strong interest in a cafe.

"It fits the new model of what a public library is," she said.

She sees Forbes as a community center that offers many services besides books. And having food alongside those books is not a problem.

"As I keep telling people," she said, "people take the books home and eat" - so why not at the library. Of course, no food is allowed near the special collections.

Moulding had queried other cafe owners, but no one wanted to take it on until she asked Sam Ross. She said she was thrilled when Ross accepted.

Ross was initially "a little nervous, because of the way the economy is now." She has five employees.

But library patrons have welcomed the new amenity, which opened two weeks ago. Moulding said she hears nothing but kudos, and Ross said business is good.

The library is to receive a percentage of the profits, according to Moulding.

Like the museum cafe, Sam's at Forbes offers locally roasted, fair trade coffee, milk from Mapleline; as much as possible, local ingredients. It's all "grab and go" - sandwiches, muffins and sweets are made in the larger Sam's Cafe's kitchen.

Ross, one of six siblings, is sister to the also entrepreneurial Ross Bros. (Robert bought out Hank and is now sole proprietor of the antiques business in Hatfield.) A lifelong Northamptonite who lived downtown for many years, Sam Ross recently moved to the outskirts of Florence.

Ross wanted the fledgling cafe to reflect its parent, but also to harmonize with its surroundings. She had local artist America Garcia create a sign on a panel that matched the woodwork, and the library-style table is "one of my finds," she said.

The cafe's library branch mostly mirrors Forbes hours, but opens an hour later in the mornings.

Moulding is justifiably proud of the 1894 library, which she calls the most beautiful building in the city.

"It's the only cafe in town with 30-foot vaulted ceilings," Moulding said.

Will Sam's branch again? Ross said her dream is to have a cafe full of antiques - "a changing environment" where diners could buy their table, chair or the art on the walls. In a few years, who knows?

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