Nancy Crosby and Jan Hall, owners of Partners Village Store, Westport, Mass., for 36 years, have sold the combination bookstore, gift shop and cafe to Lydia Sweetser Gollner, South Coast Today reported. Crosby and Hall are retiring, although Hall will stay through the transition.
Hall said, "We believe new ownership will bring new ideas and energy without disrupting what has made Partners so special. We believe that Lydia's commitment to service excellence, quality and a unique experience will result in a positive future for our valued customers, staff and the community. Business is good, and there are many exciting possibilities for continued growth."
"I am thrilled and honored to continue the legacy of Partners into the future," Gollner said. "Nancy and Jan's accomplishments and service to the community are what I look forward to expanding upon. It is my goal to maintain the integrity and warmth of Partners Village Store. I look forward to working with the team to carry on the torch with excellent service, food and product selection."
Gollner joined the staff in 2014 to prepare for this transition. She has more than 20 years of experience in the wholesale fashion industry, having managed brands including Kenneth Cole, DKNY and Sigrid Olsen. Her mother and grandparents were from nearby Fall River, and she's spent every summer of her life in Westport. She and her husband built their home and moved to the town full-time in 2012.
As Shelf Awareness noted in a 2011 profile of Partners, the store started in 1979 "as a beer- and wine-making supply wholesaler and morphed slowly and steadily into its current incarnation as a combination bookstore-gift shop-café that includes a publishing arm (and no trace of the original wholesaling business). As co-owner Jan Hall put it, 'We've been able to evolve slowly, and it's all been customer-driven.'
"The change began when the wholesaling business started carrying wine-making and beekeeping books. (Co-owner Nancy Crosby, who started the supply business in Westport, Conn., before making a somewhat confusing move to Westport, Mass., had worked at the Remarkable Book Shop in Westport, Conn., and was partial to bookselling.)
" 'People kept asking for more books,' including children's books, field guides and more, in part because there were few bookstores in the area, Hall said. 'Every few years we added on and evolved.' The store also added gifts and food, mainly in response to customer requests and suggestions."