Bisbee Books & Music, Bisbee, Ariz. is now under new ownership. Tucson.com reported that "12 months after listing the store for sale, and 70 days after announcing its imminent closure, [Craig] Harzinski and co-partner Ken Mertes happily announced last week that buyers had finally been found for Bisbee's last remaining bookstore."
"It's an amazing thing," said Harzinski. "A man came in one day, wanting to buy a book. Next thing you know, he bought a bookstore."
Final papers were signed January 7, and the new owners will take over the day-to-day management of the store early next month.
In a Facebook post on signing day, Harzinski and Mertes noted: "Bisbee Books and Music Will Continue! We are very happy to announce the sale of Bisbee Books and Music to some quite wonderful people: Erik and Melissa. When we were looking at potential buyers, we wanted to find people who loved the store, loved Bisbee, and had a great vision on where to take the store next. And we have found them! We will be transitioning the store to Erik and Melissa for the next month or so as needed, so please stop by and let us say goodbye and, of course, meet the new owners of Bisbee Books and Music!"
Harzinski told Tucson.com that when they bought the store six years ago, their plan was to work for three more years and then retire, but "then Covid happened. All the uncertainty after Covid happened. Finally, about a year ago, Ken and I decided it was just time. We had taken the store as far as we knew how, and it was time for somebody else to make it even better."
He noted that while many people expressed interest and several contacted the broker, "I'd say we had two very serious buyers. The first couldn't quite get her financing together, and the second had a health issue come up at the last minute. By September, we were pretty much back where we started."
On October 29, the co-owners told customers the bookshop would close December 31 if a buyer did not come forward before then. "We both felt horrible about it," Harzinski recalled. "We know how much the store means to the people who live here, but we had started to make other plans... thinking the store would be sold."
On November 22, however, Harzinski "was behind the counter when a man walked in looking for a book. He was moving to Bisbee from North Dakota, in town looking for a house, and had learned about our store from the library across the street. We began talking about Bisbee and books and the bookstore... and we've been talking pretty much ever since."
Harzinski and Mertes are planning an open house next month to introduce the new owners to the Bisbee community.
"We loved the time we spent in the store," Harzinsk said. "We met people from all over the world, looking for just the right book to take home. The best part was helping them find just the one they wanted, even though they didn't know it when they walked in."