Luke Garing and Paola Merrill are the new owners of Trail's End Bookstore in Winthrop, Wash. Methow Valley News reported that they purchased the shop from Christine Janikowski and Abilene Hagee, who "grew the bookstore threefold in 13 years. Nine years ago, they moved Trail's End one short block in downtown Winthrop."
When Trail's End reopened recently under new ownership, "nothing much changed from the customer's perspective. But expect new owner Paola Merrill to put her own touches on the store before long," Methow Valley News wrote. Merrill is an artist and videographer who became a YouTube phenomenon during Covid-19 with her rural lifestyle channel, The Cottage Fairy.
"I still want to keep it up, but I want to do something a little more local and community focused," she said.
In an e-mail message, the former owners noted: "Thank you to our family, friends, longtime customers, and visitors for your support these last 13 years. We couldn't have done this without you, and for that we are ever grateful."
Before moving to the Methow Valley in 2019, Merrill studied English literature at Western Washington University in Bellingham, where she worked at Village Books. She's also been a Trail's End employee for the past several years.
"I've always loved working with books and people," she said. "It's been fun getting to know a lot of my customers here throughout the years.... Everyone is welcome at the bookstore. Anyone who walks in can find a book that they relate to on some level, and that's something that we really strive to do."