On Friday, Jeanne Regentin, owner of Between the Covers, Harbor Springs, Mich., for the 10 years, is selling the store to Katie Capaldi, who has extensive experience as a bookseller and is the daughter of Between the Covers' children's book buyer, Susan Capaldi.
In a letter to customers, Regentin said that when she bought the store a decade ago, it was about to be either closed or sold. "I couldn't imagine my town without a bookstore, so I bought it," she wrote. "Back then I couldn't have imagined the joy running Between the Covers was destined to be for me. But, at some point several years ago, I realized that I was 'place-holding,' that the job of owning the bookstore I dreamed of for Harbor Springs needed to be filled by a person with a broader skill-set than my own."
 |
|
| Capaldi, Bunter, Regentin | |
She said that Capaldi has qualities she wanted the new owner to have: she is passionate about books, a salesperson, a fan of children and children's literature, creative, energetic, young, realistic with optimism and has a strong sense of community.
Capaldi, who is 29, began her career a bookseller at age 14 at McLean & Eakin in nearby Petoskey and worked at the store through high school and then during the summer when she was home from Kenyon College, where she studied pre-medicine, anthropology, mathematics and dance.
After graduating from Kenyon in 2006, she worked full time at the Book Cellar in Lincoln Square in Chicago for a year, then moved back to Petoskey and worked at McLean & Eakin another three years. She then spent a year in Missoula, Mont., where she was a buyer for Shakespeare & Co., then moved back to Michigan, where she began the Kids' Book Club at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor. Besides her bookstore work, she has taught dance and yoga and performed with various troupes and companies. (Regentin noted that Capaldi's background in the arts and especially performing arts "means that she thinks both creatively and literally fast on her feet.")
Capaldi said that within a year, she will move Between the Covers "so that the space and subsequent inventory are nearly doubled." She also will expand the children's and YA sections and work with an increasing number of younger business owners in downtown Harbor Springs on collaborative and cultural events.
For her part, Regentin told customers that she and her dog, Bunter, "are going to ramble off into the sunset. What's next for me? You should see the piles of unread books at my house, and most of them are your fault! One of the biggest perks of being a bookseller is the community of readers who come to the store. You guys are the best, the most entertaining, and interesting people I can imagine to get to rub elbows with every day. But you all have recommendations for your favorite books, and you did a magnificent job of selling those books to me--thus, the stacks and stacks at home. I'm looking forward to discovering the magic you found in them! Thank you all for all of the inspiration and support you have given Between the Covers over the years, your loyalty to the book-a-month buying pledge, your participation in support for the library, and your dedication to making sure that Harbor Springs keeps its bookstore. I hope you'll be joining Bunter and me as Katie's best customers and biggest fans. This young woman is extraordinary, and one of my greatest satisfactions will be watching her succeed."