Danny Plaisance, the longtime owner of Cottonwood Books in Baton Rouge, La., has put his bookshop up for sale after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the Advocate reported.
"I can't do both," he said, adding that he hopes to sell the bookstore, which offers new, used and rare titles, in the next two or three months. Some potential buyers have already stepped forward. "We had two people come by today," he said last week. "Both of them were very knowledgeable." If he can't sell the business, he may be forced to liquidate.
Plaisance bought Cottonwood Books in 1986 because he was dissatisfied with his job as a paper salesman. The business had opened in 1978 and originally was called Taliesen's. In 1982, after an ownership change, it was renamed Cottonwood Books.
The bookstore "has become an institution in the Perkins Road Overpass," the Advocate wrote. "Plaisance carved out a niche that includes used and rare books and an eclectic selection crammed into narrow aisles. Cottonwood offers bestsellers, but also has poetry, philosophy and Louisiana books. This selection has helped the store outlast some of the national bookstore chains that entered the market over the years ."
"I hope anybody who buys the bookstore is as interested in it as my wife and I were," Plaisance said.