The Monte Cristo Bookshop, New London, Conn., is being converted to a nonprofit cooperative with a nine-member board of directors, the Day reported. 
The store was founded in late 2012 by Gina Holmes and Christopher Jones, who last June put the store up for sale, saying that the business was profitable but not enough to support their family. Jones is returning to school for a computer science degree.
Michael Whitehouse, a marketing consultant, is becoming executive director of the bookstore. Whitehouse has had experience in converting private enterprises into cooperative, having overseen a similar switch of his own first business, Phoenix Games, to Worlds Apart Games, a collective in Amherst, Mass.
At first, Whitehouse considered buying Monte Christo, the Day said, but decided that the business needed to be a nonprofit cooperative. He'll hold a meeting on August 11 at the store to explain its new structure and seek volunteers.
Jones and Holmes are donating the store inventory to the cooperative and will help out for at least several months. The store aims to hold a grand reopening on August 23 and 24.
