Lacy Simons, founder of hello hello books in Rockland, Maine, has sold the 14-year-old bookstore to longtime bookseller Jacob Fricke.
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Fricke joined the bookstore when it was about a year old, and as of last week, officially took over the store. In a message to customers announcing the ownership change, Simons said of Fricke: "No words suffice to describe how integral they became to the operation and the lived mission of this shop; it would not have survived the last few tumultuous years in particular without them, and I'm extraordinarily lucky that the store I loved making is the place they have poured so much energy and care into. There is no one on this weird little planet better suited to steward this small but powerful bookstore into the future."
The store's mission, name and sensibility will remain the same under Fricke's ownership, though Simons alluded to some new store programs and "the relaunch of some beloved bits from hello hello's past."
Simons explained that the last few years "have upended my own life in difficult ways that have made being present in the store really challenging, and managing it from a distance has been a kind of heartache. I dreamed of opening my own bookshop for so many years that it was a surprise to feel, eventually, that I was ready to let it go, and to let myself figure out how I'm going to show up in the world next."
Noting that she and Fricke have approached the ownership change in a "nontraditional" way, Simons said she is backing roughly half of the sale price of the store through a seller-financed loan. This means that she is "literally invested in the bookstore's future under Jacob's ownership. In truth, it's an easy risk to take, an easy decision to make. As a queer person, as a woman, as a full-time single parent, as a citizen of this country and this state, the existence of this store is vital to me, and I’m going to do whatever is in my power to ensure that it thrives."
"Thank you for your unabashed enthusiasm, your patience, your community care, your jokes, your kindness, your fantastic book recommendations and your trust in ours, your shared snacks, and your emotional investment in every inch of our 850 square feet," Simons wrote. "Thank you for loving this store, and for taking pride in it alongside me, no matter if you walked in for the first time in 2011 or two weeks ago. You changed my life, and I'm so lucky to have been part of yours."