Two Connecticut bookstores that opened to fanfare in late 2012 have announced that, if they do not find a buyer, they will close by the end of the summer.
In a note to customers, Christie Michaud, owner of children’s specialty bookstore Tell Me a Story in Enfield, wrote that she had originally planned to give the bookstore three years but, after a year and a half, it’s clear that the store "is just not showing the kind of growth that would be indicative of eventual success.”
If a buyer doesn’t come forward, Michaud plans to close the store at the end of next month.
In a separate e-mail to the members of the New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council yesterday, she noted that the store is available at “a very affordable price,” and suggested that it might work as a second store for someone who already operates a bookstore in Connecticut or Massachusetts.
Late last week Christopher Jones, co-owner of Monte Cristo Bookshop in New London, a new and used general bookstore, announced on his Facebook page that he is going back to college in August and putting the store on the market.
“I feel like we have delivered what we promised when we opened the store,” he wrote. “It certainly won't make anybody a million dollars to operate. I have mulled this over for some time now. While I think being a business owner has many rewards, I sacrificed some of my creative passions to constantly keep up with bills and run the store itself.”
