I’ve been put off posting for a bit. Mainly because I didn’t want to write about what’s been going on here but due to a rumor that was just told me I felt the need to blog about it. All will be fine.

As many know by now, I have my store on the market, for sale. Oh, it was a hard decision, you can be assured of that but I am one to be honest and forthright. Rather than hearing rumors you may read the reasons. If one stopped in the store I would answer all questions as I have been doing.

Back in November 2012 I was taken to Porter Hospital and checked myself into the ER with heart palpitations. Severe enough that the doctor wanted to admit me for overnight monitoring but nope, I wasn’t going to have that. So I did everything I could within my power to breathe through, meditate, relax, anything! to bring my heart beat down and  within the range to allow me to go home. Oh yea, and meds.  I was diagnosed with a condition -don’t ask me to spell it- and on medication and recognizing that it will now be something I have to live with. No problem! All tests came back that I was fine and to continue doing everything as I have been.

During my time in the ER my husband, Rusty, asked me to “please, now put the store on the market so we could have quality time together.” Hiking, camping, traveling, and the like. This event was to serve as our wake-up call. Our roles have reversed somewhat from when we were first married and throughout most of our married life. He worked 24/7 it seemed while General Manager of the Middlebury Inn. Now that he is GM at the Courtyard Marriott, he is awarded with more downtime though he could be there 24/7 because well, that is his nature. But he has many weekends off. I don’t. I work in the store six days a week and though it isn’t taxing it does take dedication.

I am a person who lives by my word. It took me several months to actually make the commitment and seek out a realtor and then it took me several weeks once committed to come to the realization that it wasn’t going to sell overnight. Phew! So now you realize I have mixed feelings about this but I understand and appreciate that when the right buyer comes along it will be right.

I can’t help but look back on my life as a bookstore lady and recognize that I have mostly achieved my dreams. Though owning a used bookstore was never in my life plans it should have been. I’m proud of how I turned around the business from a failing Main Street business to one that is now on its own, paying its bills. I moved the store, going on two years now, to the Marble Works. I understand in deciding to move the store that I would be setting it back again a few years but one that I have never looked back on with regret. I love this space with its nooks and crannies. I love the community of the Marble Works. We look after one another. I love how some who live in the Marble Works Residences pop in to see how I’m doing. What I’m finding here is what I hoped to and expected on Main Street but didn’t happen. It is a wonderful world ‘down here’.

I stayed in my previous employment for over a year at the Addison County Chamber of Commerce in order to pay the store’s bills. Sales & Use Tax was paid quarterly. When I left ACCOC it took a number of months until I received new paperwork in the mail from the state that I was now required to pay S&U Tax monthly. Hooray! That was my first sign that the business was turning and from that I have done well. But leaving Main Street was somewhat of a difficult decision only because I knew it was going to be hard for customers to find the new location. No business really wants to leave Main Street. But I was in the basement of an aged building that the owners didn’t reinvest in. There was a crack in the foundation that when it rained I had to be prepared for puddles appearing.  In the summer I was daily spraying the outside of the building to detract the bugs crawling in. No windows but for the large plate glass overlooking Main Street and one in the back door. And with pending railroad work it really threatened the ability of keeping the door open. At least the front door. Hence my decision to move the business. Though it did set me back financially I would do it again.

I’m outgrowing this space but I love looking for other ways to feature the books. Just being creative. My claustrophobia is getting better. I look around myself now and see piles of books waiting for pricing or shelving. And the boxes! Many boxes waiting to be gone through.

So enough of this break! I have got shelving to do. Open up a box or two. Look-up some books for a customer and yea, a stream of customers just walked in.