Danielle Hargis xed out her closing sale sign -- Books New & Used will stay open under new ownership, allowing Trenton to keep its one bookstore and Ms. Hargis to retire happy.
It's not so much a case of the happy ending as of the happy going-on. And since the name of Danielle Hargis's original bookstore was Books Never-Ending, why don't we call this a case of Bookstore Neverending?
Ms. Hargis started Books Never-Ending in Fort Oglethorpe nearly 24 years ago, and her used-book business model of the two-for-one trade ensured that inventory, well, never ended. That's how the Trenton store, Books New & Used, came into existence several years later--as a place to sell the overflow.
Ms. Hargis closed the Fort O store five years ago and has been operating Books New & Used solo ever since. But now Ms. Hargis,79, wishes to retire, and The Planet earlier reported that she would close the store on July 15 unless a buyer could be found.
On Thursday, Ms. Hargis announced that that happy consummation had in fact come to pass. The new owner/operators are a young married couple, said Ms. Hargis. She did not want to reveal their names without their consent, and so far, she said, the agreement is only oral.
But the female half of the couple is in the store every day learning the ropes, said Ms. Hargis, and she thinks the new owners will issue an announcement as soon as matters are formalized.
For now, then, the big news is that Trenton's one bookstore remains open for business.
Furthermore, Ms. Hargis had stopped accepting trade-ins this summer as she planned to close the store, in the interest of making the volume of books she had to pack up and move a finite number. Now that the store has been sold, said Ms. Hargis, the twofer policy is back in force, ensuring for the new owners a source of books neverending....
Comments