Developer’s Rent Offer Prompts Main Point Books’ Move

Main Point Books owner Cathy Fiebach is moving her Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, bookstore to a larger space in nearby Wayne, after a local real estate developer offered her a rent incentive. For the first six months of her lease in the new spot, Eadeh Properties will charge Fiebach her current rent, which is less expensive. After that, the rent will increase over the next five years.

Fiebach said the developer proffered the incentive if she agreed to move her bookstore into the former home of The Readers’ Forum, which recently closed after 30 years in business in Wayne.

“It’s really nice because I do think they could have gotten paid more by a restaurant or another business that was interested in the space. They just really wanted a bookstore,” said Fiebach, who added that she expects store sales to increase with the move.

Main Point’s new location will be 2,200 square feet, compared to its current 1,700-square-foot space in the college town of Bryn Mawr on Philadelphia’s Main Line. At present, the store employs five staff members; however, Fiebach anticipates needing more staff to work the floor and meet customer needs in the new space.

The suburb of Wayne is a bit farther from the heart of Philadelphia than Bryn Mawr, she said, but it boasts a town center and a popular park and doesn’t see itself as a commuter town.

“We’re going to be half a block from the local movie theater, half a block from the train station, and there are good restaurants within two blocks of the store,” said Fiebach, who plans to substantially increase the bookstore’s hours to more closely match the movie theater’s.

Though she hadn’t been looking to move her store, which celebrated its third anniversary on Independent Bookstore Day, Fiebach said she is now really excited to be moving to a space with more room for displays and staff picks. She also plans to add more tables for sidelines.

“The layout of the new store will not be dissimilar to my current space,” said Fiebach, “but I’m planning on expanding the children’s section since we are moving farther from Children’s Book World, the children’s bookstore in nearby Haverford. I want to make the store a fun place for kids to come and hang out; we’ll also be having more children-oriented events.”

Main Point Books will move into the new space by the end of July, just in time to celebrate the release of the new Harry Potter play, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Scholastic), on July 31.

“I’m really excited about the move,” Fiebach said. “A lot of our customers now are coming from the Wayne area. We’ll also have a really decent space for events now. All our bookshelves are on wheels, so we’ll be able to seat close to 100 people.”

An unused basement was also included in the deal, Fiebach added, and she may reconfigure it as an additional event space.