Around Indies

Curious George & Friends to Reopen

Harvard Square’s Curious George & Friends, which closed last June, is set to reopen under new management by the end of April, according to a report in the Harvard Crimson. The redesigned store will continue to carry books, clothing, games, and toys centered around the Curious George brand.

New owners Adam and Jamie Hirsch have been working with NBC Universal, the producer of  Curious George animated features, to refresh the store’s business strategy, according to the Cambridge Chronicle. Initiatives include a new focus on online multimedia and marketing and a new website that will eventually allow customers to order their merchandise online.

R.J. Julia Up for Sale

In an e-mail to customers, Roxanne Coady announced this week that she is seeking a buyer for her 22-year-old Madison, Connecticut, bookstore. It’s time “for R.J. Julia to grow in new ways, in the care of new hands that will guide the store to take its proper place in a new world; a changing of the guard in a time of change,” she wrote.  Noting that “the last few months have shown a resurgence of support and sales for independents across the country,” she assured customers that the store will not close, and that she is committed to “being patient in order to find the right person and to do this the right way.”

Coady has engaged Donna Paz Kaufman, founder of the Bookstore Training Group of Paz & Associates, to handle the process. Though she is selling the store, Coady said that will continue her efforts to combat illiteracy and develop new readers.

 The Book Stall Celebrates 30 Years

To mark The Book Stall at Chestnut Court’s 30^th anniversary on February 11, the Glencoe News spoke to owner Roberta Rubin about the store’s history, its many author events and book clubs, and the challenges facing the book business today.

Looking back to The Book Stall’s beginnings, Rubin said, “I did two things right away that put me on the map. I started book clubs and I brought in authors.” Her first guest, Robert Parker, was “quite a coup,” she said, and other authors followed. Among the most notable have been President Jimmy Carter, J.K. Rowling, and Ann-Margaret.

The store hosts book clubs for adults, focusing on fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, and women’s writers, as well as a children’s book club that has 300 members. In addition, Rubin has ensured the store’s place in the community by offering an array of special events and by partnering with other local organizations.

For this weekend’s celebrations, The Book Stall has invited many prominent Chicago authors to the festivities, which include a champagne toast from 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Saturday and a 20 percent discount for customers on Saturday and Sunday.

Mysterious Galaxy Redondo Beach Welcomes Local Coffee Shop

Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach, which opened in September, is getting a new neighbor — Catalina Coffee Co. The local coffee shop has announced plans to open in the same building, and the two businesses are looking forward to establishing a complementary relationship.

“We’re thrilled because we’re like-minded, both independently, locally owned businesses,” Mysterious Galaxy co-owner Terry Gilman Brown told Redondo Beach Patch. “They share a love of books and they share our vision of what we’re bringing to the community in terms of events and authors and programming.” Gilman said that the bookstore’s original plan was to incorporate a café or coffee shop. After an extended search, she learned about Catalina Coffee through an author who frequented both businesses.

“We were approached by the owners of the building to consider it, and after looking at the location and the relationship we would have with the bookstore, we decided that it was something that would be really good for us in expanding,” said Catalina co-owner Ellen Brown. “We’re very excited.”