A long-time business in downtown Jacksonville is looking for its next caretaker.
Jessica Gale announced this past week that she is putting Our Town Books up for sale. The store located on the east side of the square has been a bookstore for more than a decade.
Gale is relocating back to western New York State where she lived prior to coming to Jacksonville and says the bookstore and the community have meant a great deal to her over the years, but now she is ready to pass the torch on to the right person.
Gale says both she and the bookstore have grown since she purchased it in late 2018, but Our Town Books didn’t begin with her. “It was opened, I want to say in 2011, by Sally and Jim Nurss, a retired couple. Then they sold it to Andy Mitchell and then he sold it to me at the end of 2018.”
Gale says she hopes to find the right person to pass the store on to who will continue to care for it just as she and her predecessors have over the years. She says she is flexible about working with the new owners once they are found.
“I’m aiming to leave mid-summer. That is flexible if I don’t find the right person or if I find them later in the spring or closer to my moving date, I’m open to maintaining ownership for several months while I train them or we work out all the details.”
Gale is maintaining the normal business hours at Our Town Books which will continue to include stocking the shelves with new books and celebrating events such as holding story time at the store and recognizing Earth Day next Saturday and Indie Book Day on April 29th.
You can find out about upcoming events and new arrivals on the Our Town Books Facebook page.
Anyone interested in purchasing the store can contact Jessica Gale via email at ourtownbooks@gmail.com.