A Minnesota mall buys a bookstore; stores in Arizona and North Carolina relocate; the world's oldest LGBT bookstore is reinvigorated; and more.
New Owner for Grand Rapids’s Village Bookstore: The Central Square Mall, where the bookstore opened 34 years ago, bought the store so that the store can stay open and owner Mike McGinnis can retire.
Jacksonville’s Chamblin Bookmine Celebrates 40th: In 1976, Ron Chamblin opened his first used bookstore. Since then the business has grown to include two locations—Chamblin Bookmine and Chamblin’s Uptown—and is about to expand once more with the addition of more bookstore space and a coffee shop at the Bookmine location. Together the two stores already boast 55,000 sq. ft. of books. They also spawned Napa Bookmine in Napa, Calif., founded three years ago by Chamblin’s daughter Naomi, and her husband, Eric Hagyard.
Guidon Books to Move: The 52-year-old bookstore, which specializes in Western literature and American history, is leaving its long-time location in Old Town Scottsdale, Ariz., and moving to a smaller space at the Scottsdale Airpark. Owner Shelly Dudley, who inherited the store from her parents five years ago, plans to focus more on selling books online.
David’s Used Books Moving: The Greenville, N.C., bookstore is moving to new digs with more space and more parking. The new store, which will open on July 26, has space for all the books and vinyl that owner David Nolen Brown currently stores in four tobacco drying barns on his father’s farm.
Canada’s Glad Day Finds New Digs: After raising over $34,000 through Indiegogo, Toronto’s LGBT bookstores is about to take over the space of a martini bar and restaurant, and turn it into a bookstore, coffee shop, and cocktail bar. As part of the transition, Glad Day will cut its book base by 75% from 4,000 books to 1,000. Work is slated to begin in mid-August.
