One day in Cairo, perhaps in the late 1930s or 1940s, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company enticed shoppers to its storefront at 515 Main St. with a blowout 5-cent sale on soup, beans, and other provisions. In an undated, unsigned photograph, cans are piled in pyramids outside the front door, and a sign proclaims “Groceries” on one side and “Meats” on the other.
That image, supplied by the Cairo Historical Society, has been a powerful reference point and inspiration for Cairo residents Maya Prohovnik, 40, and Erik Price, 45, who have transformed the former grocery store into Better Days Bookshop, fulfilling a decade-long dream. The former A&P building, which they purchased last October for $250,000, most recently housed a tanning salon and, before that, an auto parts store.
“Timing-wise, it felt right for us. It has felt like one of those journeys where the universe feels like it is aligning,” said Maya, who heads a podcast product team at Spotify. “When this building came up for sale, we said, ‘It’s perfect.’ We knew we wanted to open something in Cairo because we felt this town needs more anchor businesses and kid-friendly places.”
The storefront sports a spiffed-up, old-timey façade, a brightly striped canvas awning, and a sign that says “Books” and “Beer.” It’s the first bookstore in the town’s 223-year history. The shop also sells a curated selection of craft beer in cans and grab-and-go food, which customers can enjoy on the back deck overlooking the mountains.
Better Days is the latest in a slow trickle of creative retail businesses to open on Cairo’s Main Street since 2019. They include See & Be Kitchen, a popular café and sourdough bakery with a robust wholesale business; Art Hub, which offers art workshops and parties; and Red Star Café, a stylish espresso joint with a welcoming front porch.
The street is looking better, too. A lush pocket park with a huge, steampunk-style metal bear sculpture opened in 2023, replacing a condemned building. Down the road, where Main Street forks, a dilapidated multifamily building that residents call the “Fountain House” recently reopened with freshly renovated apartments.
“Cairo is a destination now,” said Natasha Law, owner of the 3-year-old Juice Branch. “Just seeing the change is great. There’s more foot traffic.”
Residents have noticed the changes, too, though not always positively.
“People are like, ‘My, we’re getting gentrified here,’ but it’s all good,” said Sylvia Hasenkopf, president of the Cairo Historical Society.
Cairo has been evolving since its first heyday in the 1880s as a tourist destination for city dwellers, she said, with each new generation of newcomers adding to the fabric of the community.
Love Story
Maya and Erik first met at a “Tweetup” in Brooklyn in 2009, bonding over their mutual affection for Stephen King’s work. They fell in love while reading “Lisey’s Story” together. Erik even proposed to Maya in front of King’s home in Bangor, Maine, much to her chagrin because of the author’s dislike of tourists.
They married in August 2016. Both had worked at independent bookstores—Maya in her teens and Erik in his early 20s—and loved the experience.
While living in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the couple bought a house in Cairo, intending to use it as a part-time residence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they realized they didn’t want to raise a family in the city and made Cairo their full-time home. Their son, Bennett, known as Benny, is 5; their daughter, Juniper, is almost 2.
Reimagining 515 Main St.
Restoring the building was no small feat.
“We basically took down the entire storefront and rebuilt it. We built this back porch,” said Erik, a former software engineer and onetime Esquire writer who became a woodworker and the children’s primary caregiver.
The new façade pays homage to the original Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company building in the photograph, he said, down to details such as smalt, a historic sign-making material made from ground colored glass or sand.
They also wanted the building to have a touch of whimsy.
“We wanted it to feel like a storefront at Disney,” Maya said. “We love Disney.”
Maya and Erik have filled the light and airy store with books they cherish. They pride themselves on stocking every Stephen King book ever written.
“Our favorite genres are page-turners, horror, thrillers, mysteries, and sci-fi,” Maya said. She often recommends her favorite book, “Children of Time,” a science-fiction novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
They’ve already sold out of Erik’s all-time favorite, “Heat 2,” a crime novel by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner.
On a recent afternoon, a Gen Zer approached Erik and asked whether he had ever heard of “On the Road.” Erik gave an impassioned synopsis of Jack Kerouac’s 1950s Beat Generation classic and earned a new customer.
The store also features a hefty selection of children’s titles, among them “Goodnight Moon,” the Harry Potter series, and vintage collection of spooky “Goosebumps” books. For cooking enthusiasts, there’s an entire culinary section curated by local restaurateur Julia Joern, co-owner of Julia’s Local in Round Top, a hamlet of Cairo.
Better Days will begin hosting special events at the end of the month, starting with a children’s reading on Sept. 19. On Oct. 10, the shop will hold a Stephen King trivia night to celebrate the publication of “Other Worlds Than These,” the final book in the Talisman horror-fantasy trilogy, a collaboration of King and the late Peter Straub.
“We want people to come in and have a better day,” Maya said. “Who doesn’t have a better day when they discover a new book or a new beer? It has been so satisfying and fun having people come in and match our enthusiasm.”
Robin D. Schatz is a contributing journalist. Send correspondence to reporting@theoverlooknews.com.
