Liz Murphy, owner of the Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Ohio, has sold the store to employee Kate Schlademan.
Schlademan will take full ownership next month, on March 15. Murphy, who has owned the store for 30 years, will remain in an advisory role for the foreseeable future, to ensure a smooth transition.
"At this point I'm not planning to make any major changes," said Schlademan. "In fact, Liz will stay on as a consultant, to make sure we don't change the things that the community loves about the bookstore."
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| Schlademan and Murphy | |
"Despite rumors that I will be leaving town and traveling the world, this is not so," wrote Murphy in an e-mail announcing the sale of the store. "I am very committed to making sure Kate's next chapter is successful--I plan to be her best customer for years to come." She added that she is not much of a traveler anyway. "Give me my garden in the summer, a fireplace in the winter, a pile of books and a glass of wine, and I am most content to stay at home."
Schlademan used Indiegogo, the online crowdfunding platform, to raise money to purchase the bookstore. "A good friend of mine was in a band, and used Kickstarter to make an album," she explained. "When I was trying to come up with ways to find funding, it was difficult to find investors, so I looked into Indiegogo."
A good portion of Schlademan's backers came from the Learned Owl's community, in addition to friends, family and some complete strangers.
In March 2011, Murphy hired Schlademan to be a storyteller during the first annual International Festival in Hudson. She then joined the staff, became events coordinator, and "at least unofficially, my full-time manager for the past year," Murphy wrote.
Before being hired by Murphy, among other jobs, Schlademan worked at the now-closed Dubois Bookstore in Kent, Ohio, spent seven years with Borders and taught kindergarten in South Korea for five years. --Alex Mutter