Carolyn Wright doesn’t want to close the shop she’s owned the past seven years. But unless she finds a buyer by June 25, the 69-year-old Cordova woman will have no choice but to shut down Book Stop Plus. 
“I’ve gotten lowball offers; not too many people are interested,” said Wright, who has Parkinson’s Disease and has broken both hips in separate recent falls. “I have to let (the landlord) know a week ahead of time, so I’ll close June 25 unless someone buys it.”
Wright is asking $20,000 for the store and its contents. That doesn’t include the space she rents on Bartlett Boulevard, but she said she believes the new owners would want to keep the store in its current location.
If it does close, it will mean long-time customers such as Opal Binford will spend more time ordering books by mail or shopping at the Barnes and Noble at Wolfchase.
“My husband and I read by the bucket load,” said Binford, who was making a purchase from Wright on Monday afternoon. “It’s so close. I can go to the beauty shop and come in here!”
Wright said she is the third owner of the store, which opened about 31 years ago. The previous owner had it for 22 of those years. It’s become popular for high school students needing to purchase required reading materials and for romance novels, she said.
“People who came in here when it opened are now bringing in their children for books,” said Wright.
But if no one buys all of them by the end of this month, Wright, who said she takes more than five pills per day to help ease the shaking from her illness, will have to liquidate and move on.
That’s not something she wants to do, she said.
“I like the people and I love the books,” said Wright. “This has been a dream come true.”
