Sadly three bookstores in the South have shut or are shutting down their operations, although one is continuing business online. The economy is the main factor in two; in the other case the owners needed to retire.
In the last case, the "poor health and old age" of owners Harold and Virigina Hobson Hicks is leading to the closing of the Book Shop/Books on the Bluff, Townsend, Ga., the store announced. Virginia has been in a nursing home for a year and a half, and Harold is turning 90. He hopes other booksellers might want to buy some of the stock "at almost giveaway prices." He may be reached at bookshop@darientel.net or 912-832-6352.
The store has sold new, used and rare books for 40 years.
---
In October, Tammy R. Lynn closed the Book Basket in Wetumpka, Ala., citing "rising debt and lowering sales" as well as the absence of an Indian casino and hotel that was supposed to be built not long after the bookstore opened six years ago. (Now the casino and hotel are being built far from the town.) "Had the hotel materialized here, we would be looking at a thriving downtown with a string of tourists coming to town daily," Lynn wrote. "Now, downtown is folding up. It's really sad." The store also would likely be affected soon by "a huge new shopping complex" that includes a large Books-A-Million.
Lynn has started a business called Book and Author Services, which aims to work with the store's "commercial customers," including schools, libraries, book clubs and others, to handle books and events. She is also planning on writing again. The business may be contacted at 2155 Weoka Road, Wetumpka, Ala. 36092; 334-514-3453.
---
Windows a bookshop, Monroe, La., is closing December 14 after 16 years in business. Elisabeth Grant-Gibson, who owns the store with Pat Grant, wrote that between the economy, old debt and poor results--sales dropped 50% in January and leveled out to down 30% for the year--"we just couldn't keep any semblance of decent cash flow happening."
Grant-Gibson is becoming a health coach with Take Shape for Life, a company that has helped her lose a lot of weight. "As a former English prof and bookseller, it's nice to find something I enjoy that lets me feel every day as if I'm saving lives (including my own), and that is lucrative--quite a novelty." Gibson plans to read.
Among other achievements, in 2005 the store founded the Book Report, a weekly syndicated radio show that focused on books and authors and had a Southern accent.