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| Main Street Books' new location (photo: Emily Schroen) |
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Main Street Books, a 32-year-old indie bookstore in St. Charles, Mo., near St. Louis, is moving to 337 South Main St., just six buildings south of its current location. The bookstore will be in a historic brick building that was constructed in 1870 by stonecutter Joseph May, whose monument carving business was on the first floor. May also carved the intricate Corinthian columns framing the front doors.
Co-owners Emily Schroen, her husband, Ian Schroen, Ellen Hall, and Andy Hall, were presented with the opportunity to purchase the property in September. They noted that the decision to move from their long-time location at 307 South Main St. was not made lightly, but the prospect of a permanent home for the bookstore was a chance the owners could not pass up.
"It's been a bittersweet process, deciding to move to a new building," said Emily Schroen, who is Main Street Books' general manager. "We have loved our time at 307, and we have so many wonderful memories here, but the longevity of Main Street Books is extremely important to us, and to move forward with that goal in mind, we needed our own space."
Moving is scheduled to begin on January 12. The staff is planning a book brigade and will invite customers, authors, and local media to help them transport books between locations. A grand reopening is tentatively scheduled for early March. The bookstore's offsite offerings, including author events and author school visits, will continue without disruption.
"We know that change is hard, but Main Street Books will still be the same at heart--just with some fun new updates in beautiful new surroundings," said Schroen. "Our customers are the reason we're still here after nearly 33 years, and we are so grateful for their decades of support. We encourage them to visit us as we begin our next chapter."
Main Street Books was founded in 1993 by Mary Fran Rash. Initially located at 621 South Main St. in a historic schoolhouse, it served the community with general-interest books shelved in quirky ways as necessitated by the unusual space. In 2006, Rash sold the business to Vicki and James Erwin and helped move the store to 307 South Main St. Vicki Erwin had been a sales rep for Scholastic for many years before taking ownership of Main Street Books. She and James sold Main Street Books to Emily Schroen, Ellen Hall, and Andy Hall in early 2014.
The Halls and Schroen also founded a partner nonprofit organization--the Main Street Books Literacy Foundation--in 2024, to help get free books into the hands and homes of children attending under-resourced schools in St. Charles.