BY CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com
The sad news is that a beloved Yachats institution closed Monday.
The glad news is that in just days it will re-appear under a new name, with new management, at the same location and with much the same purpose.
“Mari’s Books and…” in the C&K Market plaza in downtown Yachats has been a fixture in town for 14 years, selling used books, new titles by local authors and entries on the New York Times best-seller lists, plus small goods like scenic photos and magnets. Owned since 2006 by three women — Mari Irvin and her life partner Jeannine Janson, along with Mari’s sister Mary Wiltse — the cozy storefront will re-open March 1 as “Books and More: Something old, something new, something local”.
Irvin and Janson have retired from the book business but will remain in their Yachats home. Janson will continue to work as administrative assistant at Yachats Community Presbyterian Church. Mary Wiltse now lives in Brookings, S.D., to be near her grandson.
Except for a few personal items, all the store inventory and furnishings will remain in place for the new owners, who are both familiar figures in the community: Mary Crook of Weddings by the Sea and (formerly) Planet Yachats, and Yvonne Erickson, owner of Just Local, the gifts-and-goods shop next door to the bookstore. The new owners are equal partners: Crook will spend most of her time in Books and More helping customers and buying used and new books, while Erickson will handle the business side and continues to run her Just Local shop.
“This is a dream come true”
“When I moved here from Portland 26 years ago, it was my dream to have a bookstore; this is a dream come true,” says Crook, an ordained minister who once officiated at a wedding in the bookstore and occasionally pitched in as a sales staffer there. She promises that the “new” store will be “very much the same as it has been for the last 14 years.” The hours of operation will remain 10 a.m. to 5p.m. five days a week (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Even the phone number — 541-547-3022 — will stay the same.
The “something local” in the store’s name will continue to include works by local authors, along with select, locally-made items from Erickson’s Just Local shop next door.
No, they’re not going to punch a hole in the two stores’ shared wall, although “some people have asked,” says Crook.
The “something new”? A special attraction on Mondays, when Dan Dolan, Mary Crook’s nephew and a staffer at the Yachats Visitors Center, will offer his extensive sports expertise to customers.
“I’m really excited about our new venture,” says Erickson. “Mary Crook, Mari and Jeannine have been wonderfully supportive for all the seven years my shop has been here. I felt it was so important for the continuity of the community to have a bookstore in Yachats; I am blessed that Mary wanted to be involved.”
When word first broke that Mari’s Books would be available, neither of the new owners knew the other was interested. Both Crook and Erickson were on hand for a meeting late last year at Mari and Jeannine’s home, where a group of local women business owners had gathered and learned that the bookstore was for sale. The next day, Crook expressed interest to Janson, but noted that she couldn’t swing the deal alone. The day after that, Erickson called Irvin to say the same thing, and a partnership was born.
“… a great conclusion and a wonderful beginning”
“It’s a great conclusion and a wonderful beginning,” Janson said, pausing between customers, well-wishers and browsers on one of the shop’s final days as Mari’s Books. She said Irvin dreamed of having a bookstore when the couple bought their Yachats home in 1996. In January 2006, Janson learned that the small space now occupied by Just Local was available.
“I remember telling Mari that, ‘If we don’t do this, we will die talking about it.’” The next day, they leased the smaller storefront, where they stayed for four years before moving next door to the current location.
“We started out with a commitment to one year, and said we’d only run the bookstore as long as it was fun. It’s been fun for 14 years,” said Irvin, who retired from the psychology department at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. in 2000. She calls the experience “incredibly enriching: it’s kept me in touch with people. I knew I would need that after retirement.”
Running the store has enabled Irvin and Jansen to make lifelong friends among the locals and travelers who frequented the shop. “We’ve met people from every continent except Antarctica”, Irvin said.
Asked about her retirement plans, she deadpans, “Clean the garage.”