Monday, March 20, 2017

New England Mobile Book Fair needs your help!

New England Mobile Book Fair needs your help!

Hey, local authors and readers! You know how NEMBF has always been there – a big, sprawling treasure trove of a bookstore? Well, now it – and owner Tom Lyons – needs your help.

The store is looking for a new home – ideally 3,000–4,000 SF of sales space at no more than $7,000/month triple net. Lyons is looking at Natick, Canton, Waltham, West Roxbury, and Needham, but is open to other possibilities. He is also seeking an investor/partner, if you or anyone you know has always wanted to get involved with a bookstore.

Bottom line: the current store is huge (over 16,000 SF) and the bulk of that space is for bargain books, which are just not paying their way. The new store would likely be tighter and more focused (no more religion or university press books, probably). But the big-selling genres – MYSTERY! other fiction, and children's books – will remain. This move has to happen, says Lyons, because costs are now so high, he is having trouble buying inventory. No books = no bookstore.

Tom will also be looking for help. Right now, he’s boxing up the first edition, signed mysteries. Want to help? Know of a good, safe storage space? Further down the line, he'll also be asking for more help packing – and there are also going to be those lovely wooden bookshelves for sale.

Can you help? Contact Tom Lyons at tom.nembf AT gmail.com (you know how to put that together, just trying to foil the bots) or by phone at 617-964-7440 (have him paged).

PS - This all means that bargain books over $5 are now 50% off!! What a deal!

2 comments:

Nandini said...

Natick needs a bookstore! And there's definitely vacant retail space near the West Natick train station, if not on Route 9 or in the mall.

Clea Simon said...

I think it's a question of affordable rent - but I know NEMBF is looking! If you know of a space that might work, reach out to them!! Let's save this store!