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HyperText Bookstore Opens in Massachusetts

Sisters Samantha Cail and Sheila Cail, co-owners of HyperText Bookstore Café in Lowell, Massachusetts, held a ribbon-cutting celebration to mark the opening of their new bookstore on Thursday, February 25, reported the Lowell Sun.

Tired of commuting to Boston for their nine-to-five jobs, the Cails decided to combine their interests in books and food service in the new venture. “You look back and you say, how do you want to spend your life?” said Sheila Cail.

The sisters took over an empty storefront downtown and spent the past year renovating the space. The bookstore aims to be a “comfortable neighborhood spot,” said Samantha Cail.

Several book and poetry readings are already on the calendar for HyperText and book clubs will be launching soon.

Stories Bookshop and Storytelling Lab Coming to New York City

This spring, the neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn, will welcome children’s bookstore Stories Bookshop and Storytelling Lab, reported DNAinfo.

Owner Maggie Pouncey, a novelist, has always dreamed of owning a bookstore, and convinced her husband, Matt Miller, to go into business with her when he left his job at an education technology company.

The 600-square-foot store, which will feature new and classic children’s books, will devote space to a storytelling lab, where children can learn writing and storytelling skills. The owners hope to have the store open by April 30, Independent Bookstore Day.

“It’s not a huge shop, so it’s going to be a highly curated collection of children’s books from age zero to young adult,” Pouncey said. “We want all of the recommendations to feel very personal, that [they are] books we really love.”

The storytelling lab will offer a creative writing workshop for children, as well as classes on bookmaking. “I’m really interested in kind of playing with the adult writing workshop and trying to reinvent that a little for younger kids — forming a community of writers, giving feedback to each other and revising — but also making it more playful,” Pouncey said.

New Owners for Once Upon a Crime

Mystery bookstore Once Upon a Crime, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been sold to Dennis Abraham and Meg King-Abraham, effective April 1, reported the Star Tribune.

The couple will take over the store from Pat Frovarp and Gary Shulze, who are retiring after more than a decade of ownership, on the store’s 29th anniversary.

Of 12 potential buyers, Frovarp and Shulze settled on the Abrahams, an enthusiastic family whose daughter, Devin, will be the store’s main staffer. “They seemed the most excited about the idea,” Shulze said. “Plus their daughter is young; she can carry the store for many years.”

As the fourth owners of the shop, the Abrahams don’t have many changes in mind other than growing the shop’s online presence. Shulze and Frovarp will help the Abrahams in their transition to ownership.

Leadership Promotions Made at Tattered Cover

Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado, announced several personnel changes this week, reported the Business Journals.

General Manager Matt Miller has been named chief operating officer. Margie Keenan, previously the financial operations manager, has been named chief financial officer.

Cathy Langer, Tattered Cover’s lead buyer, is now the director of buying. Assistant buyer Stephanie Coleman has been named associate frontlist buyer.

“While we have specific plans to grow and enhance the stores, we’ve said from the beginning that our number one goal in taking stewardship of such an iconic business is ‘don't screw it up.’ Continuing the legacy created by Joyce Meskis starts with making a commitment to the staff that helped build it,” said incoming co-owner Len Vlahos, who will take control of the business with wife Kristen Gilligan in 2017.

Open Books Owners to Retire

Poet J.W. Marshall and wife Christine Deavel, owners of Seattle’s Open Books: A Poem Emporium, are looking to retire and sell the store, reported the Seattle Times.

“This spring will mark the 21st anniversary of Open Books as a poetry-only bookstore, as well as mark the 29th anniversary of my owning Open Books, which started life as a small general bookstore with a large poetry selection,” Marshall wrote in an e-mail to customers.

“I will miss much of it, but I am ready to experience the pleasure of books and reading as entirely and solely personal.”

Marshall and Deavel plan to keep the store open until June while they search for a buyer.