Every morning since 1996, Marvin Schaefer has turned the red sign in the front window of Books With A Past from "Closed" to "Open," and then turned it back again at day's end.

Now, unless a pending sale with a potential buyer proves successful, the doors on the beloved used bookstore in the Inwood Village Center, in Glenwood, will stay closed for good Saturday, Oct. 31.

From Nancy Drew adventures and Oprah's top picks to rare collectibles, Books With A Past, on Route 97, consists of three storefronts of neatly lined, custom-made shelves everywhere one looks, all labeled and organized by genre.

Schaefer, 66, who owns the store with his wife, Mary Alice, 70, said he has seen a decline in readership, but doubts it was enough to hurt his business. The main reason he has to sell, he said, comes down to the health of the Glenwood couple.

"We are here seven days a week," Schaefer said. "That is not going to work for us much longer."

The Schaefers came to the difficult decision that it was time to get out of the business in September and gave notice to the landlord.

Word soon spread of the impending sale, eventually reaching 25-year-old Erin Matthews, of Allentown, N.J., who is hoping to be the next owner.

As of earlier this week, Matthews was awaiting approval of a bank loan that would allow her to buy the store. If she is successful, the Schaefers, who live just four miles from the bookstore, plan to continue working in the shop while Matthews learns the business.

If the sale does not go through, Schaefer said another bookstore will purchase his store's books, the shelves will be cleared and the doors will close at 5 p.m. Saturday.

"My wife and I are not happy about that," he said. "We have put 14 years of our lives in putting a bookstore in western Howard County and we don't want to see it gone."

Inventory dwindles

At its peak, Books With A Past had an inventory of 125,000 books, spread across 170 different subject areas of nonfiction and seven genres of fiction.

Schaefer estimates he is down to 100,000 books, in part due to a 40 percent-off sale that has been running for several weeks, in an effort to clear the shelves.

"To some extent, it has been like seeing children leaving the nest," he said of the sale.

Schaefer still delights in hearing a customer have what he calls "one of those wonderful 'Eurekas!'," where he or she has stumbled upon something to treasure.

He has been touched by the dismay and sadness he has seen expressed by his customers, including at least two who were moved to tears at the thought of the store closing.

"We have had wonderful relationships with a large number of people," he said, noting the bookstore draws people in from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. Sometimes the same customers came weekend after weekend. Others Schaefer would only see once a year.

The biggest surprise over the years has been the quality of books coming into the store, Schaefer said.

Before buying Books With A Past, the Schaefers completed an apprenticeship at The Book Alcove in Gaithersburg, where the owners showed them everything there was to know about buying, selling, shelving and repairing books. With that store closer to Washington, good books were plentiful.

"We didn't realize how literate this community is," he said. "It was only when people here started bringing us books that we saw the depth and breadth of the reading habits of people of western Howard County."

Alerted by local relatives

Matthews heard about the impending sale of Books With A Past from her aunt and uncle, Mike and Sharron Pirrone, of Glenwood, who are customers of the store.

"I thought, 'Hey, what about me?' " said Matthews, who graduated from Princeton University in 2006 with a degree in classical studies. She now works three jobs, one in customer service, one as an SAT tutor and one as a freelance editor.

Since a visit to a used bookstore in Tampa, Fla., when she was 15, she has been intrigued by the thought of owning such a store.

"Off and on I have been thinking, if you are going to own your own business, and you are me, this is the way to go," Matthews said.

If she becomes the new owner, Matthews said, the first order of business will be to create a Web site for the store. She also wants to establish a mobile bookstand to bring books into retirement communities and senior centers.

Meanwhile, Schaefer says he is thankful for Matthews' enthusiasm and interest. "We don't want to see the store disappear," he said.

---

user comments (1)

user gcagney says...

Good luck, Marv and Mary Alice! You have made a lasting impression on the people of Howard County..and those of us in far away places! It's never a complete trip back to the area without a visit to the store to see you. Best of luck to Ms. Matthews!

Posted 12:21 PM, 10.30.09 | Permalink