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Booksellers on Fountain Square Opens

This weekend, The Booksellers on Fountain Square is holding a Grand Opening Celebration, offering a 20 percent discount on everything in the store, as well as free coffee, cupcakes, and the chance to win a $300 gift card. The bookstore will feature a creperie and coffee bar.

When the bookstore’s opening was first announced in May in the Cincinnati Business Courier, owner Neil Van Uum said: “Our community downtown continues to grow, and I see The Booksellers on Fountain Square as the missing piece in this diverse landscape. When it opens, the store will be Cincinnati’s locally owned independent bookseller.” Van Uum is also the owner of Memphis’ Booksellers at Laurelwood and is the former owner of Joseph-Beth Booksellers.

Bank Square Expands

In a letter distributed to customers this week, Mystic, Connecticut’s Bank Square Books announced plans to expand. Owners Annie Philbrick and Patience Banister have signed a lease for a vacant storefront that is connected to Bank Square through an open doorway. The new configuration will allow for the creation of one larger store with a dedicated event space and an office upstairs with window views onto Main Street. The new space is likely to become the children’s department, and the whole store will become more open with additional lighting and comfortable seating for reading.

“It is not without hard work and courage that we take this step to expand, but more importantly, this leap is possible because of your support,” Philbrick and Banister told customers. “For that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

A tentative opening reception has been scheduled for Tuesday, October 22, with a celebration of the first-ever hardcover from Europa Editions, The Last Banquet by Jonathan Grimwood.

Tattered Cover to Stay in LoDo

After weeks of speculation following the listing of the retail space that houses Denver’s Tattered Cover Book Store, owner Joyce Meskis announced on Monday that the store will remain in “LoDo,” lower downtown Denver, but will be consolidating onto one floor.

The store’s present two-floor space will stay intact throughout the holiday season, Meskis told the Denver Business Journal.

Page One Looks for New Location

Page One Bookstore in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is on the lookout for a new retail space. Owner Steve Stout is under pressure to move from the landlord, who has been bought out by Wal-Mart. As he looks for a new space, Stout is waiting to be evicted. Plans call for the building to be demolished so a Wal-Mart store can be built in its stead. Though not the ideal situation, Stout is focusing on the positives, such as being able to start over in a new space, and he is confident that his community will stand behind him throughout the process.

“It’s the only reason I’m staying in the book business,” Stout told KASA.com. “It’s my life and when the community pulls together and supports us, that’s what makes it worthwhile.”

Seminary Co-op's Jack Cella to Retire

Congratulations to Jack Cella, general manager of the Seminary Co-Operative Bookstores, who is retiring after 40 years in bookselling.

“There is truly no replacing Jack, and we will miss him greatly,” the co-op’s Board of Directors chair Bill Gerstein and vice chair Art Sussman said in an e-mail to customers.