Queen Anne Books owner selling business
By Vera M. Chan-Pool
Katharine Hershey, owner of Queen Anne Books, has announced that she is leaving the store at the end of November. She is looking to sell the store to a buyer “from among the wonderful community of people who have supported Queen Anne Books over the years,” she wrote in an e-mail announcement.
The store, itself, however, will close Wednesday, Oct. 31. It will continue to participate in the annual neighborhood trick-or-treat event on Halloween, but some store services have been discontinued, including the issuance of gift certificates (they must be used by Oct. 31), special orders and on-line ordering, as books may not arrive before the store officially closes.
The store will continue to add purchases to Book Saver plans and issue rewards.
“This has not been an easy or hastily made decision, and I thank all of you for your loyalty and your commitment to Queen Anne Books during the period of time that I have been a part of the store,” Hershey said.
Hershey, a former attorney and retired King County Superior Court commissioner, had bought the store in mid-April from Patti McCall, who had put the business up for sale in two months before.
McCall and former business partner Cindy Mitchell had moved the business, which has been around since 1988, to its current location at 1811 Queen Anne Ave. N. in 2004. This allowed them to increase its children’s section with the site’s added square footage.
Mitchell sold her interest of the bookstore to McCall in 2008. McCall, whose husband died in May 2011, later sold the business to Hershey, a longtime customer.
Anyone interested in the buying Queen Anne Books is asked to contact Hershey in person at the store, by phone (206-283-5624) or by e-mail (queenannebooks@queenannebooks.com).
“I think Queen Anne Books is the heart of the community,” Hershey told the News last April. “And I want to keep it that way.”
An earlier version of this story appeared on-line on www.QueenAnneNews.com on Friday, Oct. 19, when Hershey made the announcement.
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