Bookselling This Week profiled Holly Weinkauf and Amy Sullivan, new owners of the Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul, Minn. They purchased the bookstore from founder Carole Erdahl and business partner Michele Cromer-Poiré this summer (Shelf Awareness, July 25, 2011).
Weinkauf and Sullivan hope to maintain the Red Balloon's 27-year-old legacy while making small changes to "bring it forward and make it ours," said Sullivan. "We respect what it has been in this city for all these years, and we are honoring that and just [focusing on] what we can do to make it a sustainable business in the market now."
The booksellers expressed appreciation for the welcome they've received from their peers. "Other independent booksellers have been so warm and welcoming and generous with their ideas and support," said Sullivan. "I just can't believe how much time people have spent with us on the phone. The sense of community has been something that we didn't expect, but we are so happy to have found that and be embraced by it."
They are equally pleased by the welcome from the St. Paul community. "People were just so happy that we were able to keep it going," Sullivan noted. "With the economy the way it is, no one would have been surprised if they just closed it, but I think there is kind of a spirit and a commitment, a real love of the place, and we're trying to think about ways of making that part of the bookstore stand out."
