|
|||
|
|||
Congratulations to the Vero Beach Book Center, Vero Beach, Fla., which has been celebrating its 40th anniversary over the past month with author events and giveaways. Debbie Macomber, Craig Johnson, Robert Crais and James Patterson stopped by to promote their latest books, and earlier this month, David Baldacci wrapped up the celebrations with a standing-room only crowd. Each author event included drawings for goody bags of books and book paraphernalia.
Tom and Linda Leonard, parents of current owner Chad Leonard, opened the Vero Beach Book Center in 1975. By 1997, the store had expanded twice, first tripling its size into a 12,000-square-foot space, then opening a dedicated children's store in an adjacent building, bringing their total retail space to 21,000 square feet.
In 2013, the Leonards consolidated the entire Book Center into what had been the Children's Store, reducing their square footage back to 12,000 feet. Chad Leonard admitted the store had always been too large, and that they needed to change with the times. "The small mammals survive while the big dinosaurs die off," he said. On the verge of its 41st year, the Vero Beach Book Center is not merely surviving, but thriving.