Want to own a bookstore bar? $250K buys it all at Riffraff in Providence

PROVIDENCE — Want to own a bookstore? A bar? How about a combination bookstore and bar?

Riffraff, an Olneyville bookstore that serves cocktails instead of coffee, is up for sale after its owner, Tom Roberge, emigrated to Switzerland.

For a cool $250,000, Riffraff can be yours.

Why is Providence's Riffraff bookstore for sale?

In a newsletter, which he posted to Instagram and the bookstore's website, owner Tom Roberge wrote that the sale is a result of his move. He is the head of the writing residences program at the Jan Michalski Foundation in Montricher, Switzerland.

"Not being there, by which I mean physically in the store, is making it increasingly difficult to maintain my connection to the store and the day-to-day goings on there," Roberge wrote.

Roberge wrote that he is unfamiliar with the new books hitting the shelves, can't see the excitement of people buying new books and cannot watch as crowds gather for an event.

Roberge declined an interview request and in an email sent Thursday, wrote that he had already "said what I want to for now."

In 2022, Roberge was also listed as president of the Olneyville bar Mayday.

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What does the $250,000 get you? The books, the business and the bar's liquor license

The sale would include the entire business. Roberge wrote his preferred method would be a "share sale," where the buyer takes over Riffraff as a company, including all of its liabilities. That would also help with the transfer of the store's liquor license and agreements with distributors and book publishers.

The assets include 6,000 books, all of the furnishings and computers, the bar and "an incredible espresso machine."

The liabilities include the lease that runs until September 2027 with Armory Management Company.

"And so I have to acknowledge that I’m beginning to see the writing on the wall in terms of my role there: the time has come time for me move on and allow someone in Providence, someone in contact with the community every day, someone listening to and sharing in your emotional highs and lows, to take over," he wrote.

Is the price of Riffraff right for the market in Providence?

On a recent evening, a few people were reading books in the courtyard of The Plant, the converted mill complex on Valley Street where Riffraff is located, as a loud mechanical whooshing sound of undetermined origin filled the air. (The courtyard space is one of the selling points for the bookstore.)

Patron Daniel Morris was drinking a beer in the courtyard while reading "Married: A Fine Predicament" by Anne Roiphe, which he borrowed from the library.

"The price is too high," Morris said when asked about the sale.

Were the price half that for the small space, he said that he and a few friends would try to get a loan and put in an offer.

"What it is, is where it is," Morris said. "It's not downtown or in the Jewelry District. That whooshing noise has been going on for weeks."

Inside, about a dozen patrons browsed shelves, sat with laptops open or were drinking at the bar.

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When did Riffraff open?

Roberge and his fiancée at the time, Emma Ramadan, started Riffraff in 2017, after finding New York City to be unaffordable, Roberge told The Providence Journal in 2017. The two have since parted ways.

The idea of the combination bookstore and bar was a twist on the normal café model and was intended to let both sides of the business prop up the other.

"Everyone else does a coffee shop bookstore," Roberge said in 2017. "But I didn't want people just sitting on their laptops all day. You get a different vibe from a bar. ... You get more of a nighttime crowd.  It suits our personalities and tastes."

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Reporting from USA Today was used in this report. Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: For Sale: Providence's Riff raff bookstore and bar could be yours for $250,000