The Open Book Bookstore in Westhampton Beach, N.Y., is the latest independent to announce that it will shut its doors because of a down economy and competition from digital books. But owner Terry Lucas’s decision to move her store off Main Street last year undoubtedly played a role, especially when Jack McKeown and Denise Berthiaume leased her former space and opened Books & Books Westhampton in July, 2010.
“I tried selling e-books, holding offsite events, and even sending the bookstore kids to walk around town with a sandwich board on. I feel like I tried everything, so I am at peace with the decision to close,” Lucas told PW. Open Book never regained its sales momentum at the Glovers Lane location. “Maybe in a better economy I could have survived the arrival of Books & Books. Maybe if so many of my customers did not get iPads. Maybe if there was not so much snow last winter and so much beautiful beach weather this summer,” she said.
The 12-year-old store began the first of its going-out-of-business sales over the weekend and will close by year’s end.
