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Store changes owners, purpose
The Salem bookstore plans to sell some 85,000 books
SALEM — Aaron’s Books is closing and will be replaced by a faith-based effort to provide home furnishings and chemical-dependency counseling.
The bookstore at 146 S. Broadway has some 85,000 volumes, which makes it one of the biggest used bookstores in Ohio, said Naomi McPeek, the operator.
She and her husband, Jan, began running the store in Columbiana, where they live, in 1985. They realized 10 years ago they need more space and moved the store to Salem.
Most of her business came from the northwest United States, New York City and Florida. Other customers came from larger nearby cities in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
She is retiring, though her husband will continue to run a shipping business beside the bookstore. He is a retired educator.
One book she is in the process of shipping is a hard-bound, 1956 copy of “The Saga of Glover’s Cave,” at a cost of $275. The book details a cave in Kentucky that was used by American Indians for thousands of years, was a camp during the Civil War and a hide-out for Jesse James.
But McPeek said she also offered paperback romance novels for local customers who enjoy the genre.
Very few people from this area came through the doors, she said.
She store is offering 50 percent off the books.
In order to clear the inventory, she said, “We’ll be open seven days a week until we close.”
She recalled that her husband had built the bookcases and hired people to help erect them.
The property, she said, sold quickly. The purchase price was not disclosed.
The building was purchased by Pastor Larry Paxson and his wife, Lynn.
They are the minsters at Faith Chapel Fellowship, at 511 E. Pershing St., about a block and a half from the bookstore.
The church runs the Second Blessing at 405 E. State St., which offers used clothes and household items at low prices.
Paxson said that the church, in conjunction with B&J Appliances of Salem, will help provide furniture and appliances for those in need. Paxson said that there is a big demand by those in need for basic furnishings.
The church expects to have the new operations running in the closed bookstore before Christmas.
wilkinson@vindy.com