Chappaqua to lose its bookstore
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- March
- 20
After 37 years, the Second Story Book Shop in Chappaqua is giving up its
lease May 1 and closing its doors. The owner, Joan Ripley, made the
announcement in a letter to the community she has mailed to some customers
and passed out to others as they have come into the store over the last
couple days.
The end of Second Story is another blow to the survival of independent book
stores in Westchester, where only a handful survive.
Second Story was close to closing in 2005 when its rent doubled but Chubb
Insurance stepped in as a corporate sponsor.
This time, Ripley said in the letter she is being pressured by her children
and grandchildren to retire. But also, the bookselling landscape has
changed. Ripley said rents in town are “out of sight” and customers have
moved their shopping to cyberspace.
Ripley said she hopes Second Story will keep a presence in town with a sort
of subscription book club, with monthly meetings with authors, presentations
of the best new books and discounts on orders.
This comes from Staff Writer Elizabeth Ganga, who covers Chappaqua and is joining this book blog.
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 2:26 pm by Barbara Nackman.
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