Following months of delays, Cellar Door Books in Riverside, Calif., opened last week in its new home at 473 E. Alessandro Blvd., Suite B, the Press-Enterprise reported.
After Cellar Door Books lost its lease in the Canyon Crest shopping center earlier this year, store owner Linda Sherman-Nurick found a new space in the Mission Grove shopping center. When the store closed in Canyon Crest in early May, Sherman-Nurick thought she'd have the new space open before the end of the month. Instead, construction delays and other issues kept the bookstore closed for most of the summer.
"It got to be almost funny," she told the Press-Enterprise. "Everything that could possibly happen has happened."
Almost immediately it became clear that very little work had been done on the new space, and subsequent progress was so slow that Sherman-Nurick had to explain to her landlord's contractor that because of the delay, her business was "dying." Though the contractor's pace finally accelerated, issues with the store's electricity, phone, and Internet sprang up.
Sherman-Nurick had to push back a planned opening date of August 11, but on August 17 the store passed its final inspection and was at last able to open for business. Though the store had neither signage nor a working phone line at the time, two customers were already waiting to enter. Said Sherman-Nurick: "it was wonderful."
Cellar Door Books is planning a grand opening celebration for October that will coincide with the store's 11th anniversary.