Jesse and Sasha Mullen have purchased Browsing Bison Books, a 17-year-old bookstore in Deer Lodge, Mont., from founders Nancy Kelley and Cris Walrath, the Montana Standard reported.
The Mullens officially took over operations on May 1 and plan to keep the store's name. They do, however, have a variety of other changes in mind, including adding book signings, expanding the store's selection of local and regional titles, bringing in more graphic novels and creating a vinyl records section. And at some point in the future they want to add a coffee bar and a space to display the work of local musicians, artists and craftsmen.
Kelly and Walrath told the Standard that they had been mulling over retirement for around three years, and in February finally decided to do it. Having no plans to sell the store, they took a notice of the closure to the Silver State Post, a local newspaper that Jesse Mullen purchased from his parents in September 2018. Instead of running the notice, he, Kelley and Walrath discussed other options.
"Many of the large box bookstores have gone out of business, but because of the trend with younger people there are more and more independent bookstores popping up all over the place," Mullen said. "People can find information on their smartphones, but I believe printed information has a presence and is more real."