Pamela Pescosolido has purchased the Bookloft in Great Barrington, Mass., from Eric and Ev Wilska, who founded the store 42 years ago and are staying on for a month to help with the transition, according to the Berkshire Eagle. The Bookloft will host an open house on Saturday, May 28, to say goodbye to the Wilskas and welcome Pescosolido. The Wilskas will continue to run Shaker Mill Books, a used and rare book bookstore in West Stockbridge.
Pescosolido has a law degree from Vermont Law School and has run an art supply store, sold books online and operated a small bookselling business. Other than changing some gift items, for now she intends to leave the Bookloft's store operations the way they are and retain the store's eight staffers. "At the moment, I have no plans to change anything," she told the paper. "It seems to be working very well the way it's run now."
Eric Wilska said he and his wife had had "a good run" at the store over the past 42 years. "That's long for a bookstore to remain profitable. I'm very proud of it." He added, "I plan to keep my hand in books, just not the new book world."
The Wilskas put the store up for sale last December, saying that "with our kids far-flung and our first grandchild on the way, with enormous gratitude for 42 rewarding years of bookselling, and with many life dreams still unrealized (many of them involving the reading, writing, creating and selling of books)," they had made the "bittersweet decision" to sell.