We are closing our retail store…
It is with a very sad heart that we are announcing that we are closing our retail location at 138 W. Main St. in downtown Circleville.
While there are many reasons we made the final decision to close the retail store, the bottom line is while the sales were growing, the revenue from in store sales is still very weak. Well, for the last 9 months they have totally stunk, but most of us know that story. Lol Aside from that, the new landlord has told us to move out, so he can work on the roof and building!
I want to first of all thank the many, many people who have made the past 3 years so special! Serving the Circleville community has just been so awesome. So many of you have stopped in to express your support and for that we are grateful. While we regroup we hope you will continue to follow our Facebook page and keep up with updates as we work to first of all recover, then regroup and from there….we’ll see.
If we are totally honest, the bookstore has always been more of a passion or hobby than an actual money maker for us. Partially because of our love for books and partially because we love the downtown atmosphere. My family and I have invested countless hours in to our little downtown Circleville book and pottery store, but sadly, it is time to move on to new horizons.
The good part is we will still see you in the community at events as we cover stories for the Dimple Times and The Circleville Guide (site under construction). So be sure to say, “HI”, if we don’t notice you.
As a family, we still believe in the model we opened in downtown Circleville and feel that we could have expanded and grown, but with the current state of the building we are in and the fact that we have lost our backside in the last 9 months we need to take a few steps back and regroup. Not only for the sake of the business, but for the sake of our family.
One of the huge regrets outside of missing all of you is to not be able to have a retail store next to Author Alley that happens during the Fall Arts and Crafts Fair. For this year we plan on still using the alley that the Circleville DBA obtained and the City of Circleville approved. We will do everything we can to help Author Alley continue to be a part of the downtown Circleville area.
Over the next couple of weeks we will be having our “store closing sale”. These discounts will apply to the books, pottery and games so please come in and help us get things moved out.
Starting August 16th, everything will be 50% off.
On August 23rd, all books and games will be 75% off until we close and pottery will be 50% off.
On September 6th and 7th the prices will be as follows:
– All used children’s books and mass market paperback books will be .50 cents each
– All other used books will be $1 each
– Games/puzzles remain at 75% off
– Pottery remains at 50% off
– No discounts on author books
*These discounts apply to cash, there will be a 5% surcharge for credit card. All sales final.
Right now we are still unsure of when our “last day” is as our previous landlord said we have until the end of September but the new landlord, who takes over some time in September, is pushing to get us out the door faster, so he can start working on the roof. Either way, we have to respond and respond fast. So please, please come in and buy a book or two or 100. Maybe a table? While we do have storage space for some things, we do not have space for everything.
Store Credits
If you have a store credit please come in before we close to use it, but the prices of the items will be the prices on the books and not with the discounts given above.
Turn in books?
Yes, you can still turn in books as we plan to continue to collect books, regroup and, well, we will announce more on that later. At that time we will no longer accept books for trade in.
Ohio Authors
If you are an Ohio author with books in our store please contact us to work on details to get your books back to you.
THANKS AGAIN!
We again cannot thank the community enough for being a part of Keystone Books over the past 3 years. Trust me when we say that it is with a grave, grave heart that we have made this decision. Although the book and pottery store has not made it to the point of making money we have had a blast and as already mentioned, we believed we would eventually make it there. At this point push has come to shove, and we are literally being asked to GET OUT. Well, maybe not quite as mean as that sounds, but we are being asked to move out, so they can fix and hopefully replace the roof so future tenants don’t have to go through the same things we have in the last 9 months.