That Bookstore in Blytheville Sold

This week it became official: Mary Gay Shipley has sold That Bookstore in Blytheville, in Blytheville, Arkansas, to Grant Hill, effective January 2, 2013.

Hill, who is 22, will be moving to Blytheville from Mountain Home, Arkansas. He will take over a bookstore that has grown from its beginnings in 1976 as a paperback exchange into a nationally recognized indie, stocking more than 25,000 titles in 2,400 square feet of space.

Shipley, a former board member of the American Booksellers Association and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, announced her intention to sell the store in February.

A party to celebrate the change in ownership is planned for February 16.