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| Pagination's site has become Story House Bookstore. | |
Just days after Pagination Bookshop, Springfield, Mo., closed following the sale of the building, the News-Leader reported the space will remain a bookstore under a new name and ownership, and will expand beyond retail. Operated by Michael Bruner, a recently retired professor of verbal art, and his sister Penny Scroggs, an interior designer and artist, the Story House Bookstore launched over the weekend, with a grand opening planned for next March.
The building had been purchased from Pagination owner Jennifer Murvin by Arthur Marx, grandson of late Springfield artist Pinky Marx. Scroggs and Bruner "were looking for a space to host events and support the local arts community in Springfield for some time, when the Pagination building was put up for sale. The two had already salvaged a lot of Pinky Marx's art collection and needed a space to display it," the News-Leader wrote.
"Honestly, it's everything I would have hoped for the space, and it kind of feels like it was meant to be," said Murvin, adding that Bruner and Scroggs had reached out almost immediately after the building went up for sale and it felt like a "huge relief" to see their vision and passion for the space's future.
The new owners said the Story House Bookstore will expand in inventory of books, gifts, and art. "We're kind of just taking the great base that Jen had already built here, and just sort of expanding upon it," Scroggs noted. "We're increasing the inventory of books, in the kinds of books and different genres."
"We really want to see this be a public-facing organization with a lot of community engagement," Bruner added. "We want this to really become a verbal and visual arts center for the city."