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In the space of several weeks, Bath, Maine, is losing a bookstore and gaining a bookstore. The Bath Book Shop, owned by Connie Butson, is closing at the end of the month. Butson is selling fixtures and inventory to Julie and Mike Shea, who are opening the Mustard Seed Bookstore on February 16 in a space near the Bath Book Shop.
The Mustard Seed Bookstore will offer books, music, wrapping paper, stationery, greeting cards and gifts, and serve tea and baked goods made in Bath by Starlight Café, the Forecaster wrote.
The Mustard Seed's website recounts that Julie Shea, "an educator for more than two decades," had dreamed for years of owning a bookstore. "Naturally, it was a book that would help make her dream come true. Julie read The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson and followed the directive to write down and 'circle' her dream on paper and in prayer. She hoped she and her husband, Mike, would be able to open a bookstore in Bath within the next four years and in less than two years. The Mustard Seed Bookstore was established."
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| Mustard Seed owner Julie Shea (l.) with associate Susan Shipley | |
The Sheas' friends Mark and Susan Shipley have also "helped with organizing and designing the store and its website, developing the tea shop, and handling public relations," Shea told the Forecaster.
She added: "People will be coming into the store and seeing thousands of titles of books, but we also believe that every single person in life has a story to tell.... We want to be able to be the place where that can happen."
The Bath Book Shop opened in 1999. On Facebook, Connie Butson wrote about the store's impending closing: "It's been a blessing to have been part of the downtown Bath. If you haven't heard, I have a buyer for the bookshop and will be here until the end of January. I'm so glad there will still be a bookshop, and I'm looking forward to some days off."
The Mustard Seed Bookstore is located at 74 Front St., Bath, Maine 04530.