Business partners Fox Emm and John Dixon have purchased Pro Libris Bookshop in Bangor, Maine. Noting that the transaction took place in less than seven days in February, the River Observer reported that the new owners will not change the name and plan to "keep it weird." They do hope to shift from a cash-only business to using credit-card processing, and to add newer books to the bookstore, which originally opened in 1980 and was primarily focused on used titles.
"We had always talked about wanting to run or own a bookstore," said Emm, adding that when they first arrived in Maine four years ago, they visited all the local bookstores in the area, but there were no job opportunities.
Emm and Dixon have been working with Vera Furry, widow of former owner Eric Furry--who died in January--to learn how he would have done things and where he would have sourced books, the River Observer noted.
The purchase included a fish named Bernard and an empty coffin, which had been a prop in the 1990 Stephen King movie Graveyard Shift. The fish is Emm's "new best friend."