Atticus-Chabaso Torch Passed

Charles Negaro Sr. prepared to eat lunch at Atticus Bookstore & Cafe this week — as a customer, not the boss.

Charles Jr. would worry about making sure the place was running. From here on in.

This week marked the end of one of New Haven’s retail success stories of the past 40 years: Charlie Sr.‘s founding of the Chapel Street bookstore and its evolution into a coffeehouse and then restaurant; and the development of the related Chabaso Bakery on James Street, where the ciabatta is baked not just for Atticus, but for venues throughout the Northeast.

The businesses are strong as ever. And they will remain in the family. After 16 years learning the ropes at both operations and gradually assuming authority, 36-year-old Charlie Jr. this week officially took over as the boss. And at 78, Charlie Sr. retired, knowing the businesses are continuing in good hands to evolve with the times.

At a time of creative destruction, pop-up stores, and internet commercial dominance, this week’s torch-passing marks an inspiring counter-example of long-term old-fashioned brick-and-mortar retail success.

In a joint interview on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven,” the two Charlies (pictured) reflected on their years building up the businesses and on future plans. Charlie Sr. in particular downplayed his own success — attributing it to luck — while stressing how different his son is, how better prepared for the task.

But as they spoke, the similarities between the two Negaros’ paths were unmistakable. Beginning with their determination not to follow in their fathers’ footsteps.

Charlie Sr. once vowed never to go into retail. He decided that in high school, while working at his father’s grocery, the Handy Dandy Market in Waterbury.

So he went to law school. He practiced for five years … then decided to ditch the law to open a bookstore in downtown New Haven.

“I love retail,” Charlie Sr. realized. He said he’s not as much a lover of books.

“He crushes books,” Charlie Jr. interjected, setting off a discussion of the tomes his dad had devoured just in recent weeks (such as Jill Lepore’s These Truths).

“It was 1976 …” Charlie Sr. recalled of when he opened Atticus.

” … ​‘75,” Charlie Jr. corrected.

New Haven’s downtown was pretty dead at the time. People went to Dunkin’ Donuts when they wanted fancy coffee.

Negaro started Atticus just as a bookstore. Then he decided he needed to diversify his revenue streams to survive.

A friend operated a coffee shop in a D.C. bookstore. So Charlie Sr. thought he’d try it too. He picked up some Kitchen 8 coffee grinders. Learned how to make espresso.

The place filled up immediately. Students, and others, loved having a hangout to drink coffee or tea, and read or socialize.

“It was a mob scene,” Charlie Sr. recalled. ​“It was a bar that wasn’t a bar where single women could come” without worries about drunkards harassing them.

Eventually Charlie Sr. arranged to have bread baked in a Crown Street kitchen. That worked too.

People liked the bread. Meanwhile, chains like Barnes & Noble were dominating the book business. More coffee shops were popping up in town; a veritable scene was developing. So Charlie Sr. needed to grow the business again. He decided baking more bread, and selling it other places, might be the answer. So he opened the Chabaso bakery on James Street in 1995.

It became one of Fair Haven’s more stable mid-sized employers, and a partner to community organizations like New Haven Farms (which started in a garden on the premises) and Fair Haven Health Center. Today the bakery’s 135 employees turn out 30,000 loaves of bread a day to distribute throughout New England.

Charlie Jr. worked at Chabaso a bit while growing up in the East Rock neighborhood. But mostly ​“I grew up trying to avoid it as much as possible.” Like his dad, he was determined not to enter the family food business.

After high school he worked fixing and rebuilding cars. He worked in auto-body shops in Chicago, then back home in New Haven.

By 22, he decided the work might be fun, but it wasn’t a career. He found himself back in the James Street bakery — and decided he enjoyed the ​“opportunity to put pieces together” in a new way. He stayed.

“I was a punk,” Charlie Jr. recalled.

“You weren’t a punk,” interjected Charlie Sr.

“I came in on week 2 and said, ​‘I can do it better than you.’”

Charlie Sr. concluded that, in fact, his son could do some of the work better.

Three and a half years ago, Charlie Jr. moved over to Atticus and helped his dad figure out how to update that business. The store expanded to sell more gifts. The menu expanded beyond staples like black bean soup to include locally sourced specialties like koginut squashes grown from seeds marketed by a local grower, Matt Wick. Charlie Jr. understood the increased sophistication of customers’ paletes, as well as a growing desire for more sustainably grown and tastier foods.

“I always though soup was something made by plumbers,” remarked Charlie Sr.

Charlie Jr.: ​“Don’t underestimate plumbers.”

Charlie Jr. brought on ​“pros” who improved recipes and began baking specialty breads for Atticus in a new section of Chabaso on James Street. He also worked collaboratively with staffers rather than expecting people simply to run with the boss’s ideas, Charlie Sr. said.

Look for more new ideas to rise from the Atticus/Chabaso ovens. For instance: Atticus goes through 200 pounds of dough a day. It used to be all white flour. Gradually it has moved to incorporating more whole grains. The goal, according to Charlie Jr., is have all breads and pastries made from whole-grain flour in 2020.

He has also helped organize a new coalition of New England growers and retailers to promote a regional ​“grain economy” similar to ones launched in California and Arizona based on nutritious wheat, rye, and oats grown by local ​“dirt farmers” who avoid spraying insecticides. ​“The past year, we were able to source or grow 20,000 pounds of wheat from Connecticut,” Charlie Jr. reported.

Moving long-running local businesses into the future and deepening ties to the regional economy: just a couple of many topics to make for a lively conversation at the tables on Chapel Street.

Click on the video below to watch the full interview with Charles Negaro Sr. and Jr. on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”