Around Indies

That Bookstore in Blytheville for Sale

That Bookstore In Blytheville in Blytheville, Arkansas, is for sale. Owner Mary Gay Shipley said she hopes someone will buy the 36-year-old bookstore. “I am not going anywhere and would be happy to help a new owner transform TBIB into their own vision,” Shipley explained in an e-mail to customers.

Noting that the next few years will be exciting for indie booksellers who appreciate multiple reading formats and who are in areas that “buy local,” she observed, “It would be a fun challenge, if only I were a decade younger.”

Shipley, who plans to retire, said it was time for change and she thanked everyone was for the wonderful times. “It has been a privilege to serve you all these years,” she wrote. “I am proud of the role That Bookstore In Blytheville has played in the life of our community.”

MainStreet BookEnds Creates New Events Space

To Katharine Nevins, the renovations of 14-year-old MainStreet BookEnds in Warner, New Hampshire, mean much more than just a new events space, as reported by the Concord Monitor.

The barn, which is attached to the store and is currently filled with children’s books and toys, is being turned into the MainStreet MarketPlace and Gallery. The multi-purpose events space, gallery, and possibly farmers’ market was the dream of her brother, Jim Mitchell, a co-founder of the store and its events planner, who died of a heart attack in 2008.

It’s what Jim would have wanted, Nevins told the Concord Monitor. “This is the culmination of his dream. This is exactly what he was working toward.”

 Vermont Bookstore Expands to Meet Need Left by Borders

In Essex Junction, Vermont, local indie Phoenix Books will expand into new spot in May reported WCAX.com. The bookstore will fill a need left by a closed Borders. “Borders was doing a fair amount of business in the downtown Burlington area,” said co-owner Renee Reiner, “And they were actually slated to stay open during the bankruptcy conversations and so we think if we can do a mere 20 percent of what they were selling, we can be profitable at that.” They have raised $350,000 for the move.

BookHampton to Open New Location on Long Island

BookHampton is opening a location on the North Fork of Long Island, according to the North Fork Patch. BookHampton has locations are in Southampton Village, Sag Harbor, and East Hampton Village. The new location will be in the Andrew Gildersleeve Octagonal Building, listed in the National Historic Register.

Co-owner Charline Spektor told Patch that she had been scouting new locations for the past five years. The closing of a nearby Borders helped to speed up the process. The industry, said Spektor, is healthier than people think. “We’ve been watching to see what has been developing,” she said. “And that absolutely leveled the playing field ... The North Fork is underserved.”

Plans call for the new BookHampton to open Easter weekend.

Parnassus’ Patchett Talks Indie on The Colbert Report

In a video that quickly went viral, author Ann Patchett talked with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report on Monday, February 20, about the reasons she opened her new bookstore, Parnassus Books, in Nashville, Tennessee, and about the advantages of buying from, and signing at, indie bookstores anywhere.

When Colbert promised Patchett the “Colbert bump” on Amazon, Patchett countered with, No! I want people to know they can buy their books at ParnassusBooks.net, “where if you buy State of Wonder, you can get it signed.” She also said that indies like Parnassus outdo Amazon on everything from customer service and story hour to signed books.

When Colbert asked, “What can I get from a local bookstore that I cannot get from shopping online?” Patchett replied, “Smart people...we have so many smart people working in our store. You come in, you tell us what you just read, what you liked, and I’ll tell you what you should read next.” She followed with, “If you never, ever talk to people and you meet all of your needs on the Internet, you wake up one day and you’re the Unabomber.”