Around Indies

New Owners for Eight Cousins

Beginning January 2015, Eight Cousins Bookstore in Falmouth, Massachusetts, will be under new ownership. Carol Chittenden announced that she will be selling the business to Falmouth residents Sara Hines, Mary Fran Buckley, and Eileen C. Miskell.

“Falmouth has the economic and intellectual vigor to support an independent bookstore, and there has been no greater honor to me than owning that store,” Chittenden told the Enterprise. “However, it has grown too big for one person — a person who’s now 28 years older — to handle alone. The buyers are a Dream Team, if ever there was one.”

Hines has worked in publishing and at many bookstores throughout the country, as well as in the U.K. She has been employed at Eight Cousins since 2012, where she manages the store’s digital media, programming, and on-site events.

Buckley joined the Eight Cousins staff in 2007 and has served various roles, including managing finances, organizing book clubs, and buying adult fiction.

Miskell has a background in business management and has served on many boards on Cape Cod. She is the co-owner, with her husband, of Wood Lumber Company in Falmouth.

McNally Jackson Opens Picture Room

New York City’s McNally Jackson recently announced the opening of Picture Room, an art store selling work by emerging and established contemporary artists, as well as rare prints, posters, artists’ books, and art publications.

The store will build its inventory by scouring private collections, galleries, and institutions, and will work with individual artists to procure work that would not otherwise find its way into a retail space.

Out West Books Opens in Colorado

The newly opened Out West Books in Grand Junction, Colorado, was recently featured in the Post-Independent.

Owner Marya Johnson spent most of her life helping out at her mom’s bookstore in Utah and upon moving to Grand Junction, she saw a need for a local bookstore focused on the history of the region. The store features books by authors from the West or those who write about the West, as well as travel books and guides. The store also carries bookmarks, cards, and historic photos. Johnson has plans to host local authors, as well as children’s story times.

Owl & Turtle Changes Hands

Owl & Turtle Bookshop in Camden, Maine, has been purchased by Ricky and Selena Sheaves, who will be holding a café grand opening this weekend, with a ribbon-cutting, readings, and 20 percent off everything in the store.

After moving from Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Sheaves were looking for a local business to anchor them to their new community and discovered Nancy Borland was looking to sell the shop.

“It was time to slow down and put our tendrils into a small community,” Ricky Sheaves told the Penobscot Bay Pilot. “We come from small towns and we’d gotten to the point where our first careers had played out and we just decided to make the move.”

As a software engineer, Ricky is a supporter of the do-it-yourself trend, while Selena, a book lover and writer, has experience in the publishing world as well as a number of nonprofits.

DittoDitto to Open in Detroit

DittoDitto, a new bookstore featuring new and used books, is slated to open this July in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. Maia Asshaq originally co-founded DittoDitto with Andrea Farhat as a small publishing and distribution house, and saw an opportunity in the vacant storefront location housed in the same building as the area’s local record shop.

“I like that it’s a low-key location,” Asshaq told Model D. “If you’re shopping for books and records, you want a comfortable setting, somewhere to browse and hang out.”

Asshaq also started the Detroit Art Book Fair and ran the store at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.