The Island Bookstore, Mackinac Island, Mich., will combine its two locations into a single, larger space next spring, the Mackinac Island Town Crier reported.
Currently, the Island Bookstore has one location next to the Lilac Tree Hotel at 7372 Main St. and a second, smaller location a short distance away at 7301 Main St. Following the end of tourist season this fall, the store at the Lilac Tree Hotel will close, while the Main St. store will expand into an adjacent storefront. In the spring, the Island Bookstore will reopen as a single, larger bookstore.
Co-owners Joseph and Diane Brandonisio and Mary Jane Barnwell told the Town Crier that with the two locations, the bookstores had a combined size between 1,300 and 1,400 square feet. In the expanded storefront, they will have around 1,800 square feet.
Between the extra space and no longer having to carry some of the same titles at both stores, they will "be able to have a deeper selection of books in every genre of book that we carry," Joseph Brandonisio said. He pointed to graphic novels and poetry as two sections that will have wider selections in the combined store.
At the same time, having a single inventory to manage will make things simpler, he said, and it will be an advantage being entirely on Main St. He added that he thinks seasonal customers used to shopping at the Lilac Tree Hotel store won't have a problem finding the new space.
"I've always wanted a larger space, so this is a dream come true for me," Barnwell said. "I think it's going to provide our customers with a lot more room to browse, and a lot more options, a lot more books."
Original owner Cliff Olson opened the Island Bookstore in 1975. At that time, it was primarily an antiquarian bookstore and resided in a 300-square-foot space above a grocery store. The Brandonosios and Barnwell bought the store in the late 1980s. In the early '90s the owners moved the store to the space connected to the Lilac Tree Hotel. The second, smaller location followed after that.
The owners plan to have the expanded bookstore open by May 2027, in time for tourist season.