Closing the book: The end for North Andover's only bookstore

By Drake Lucas
Staff writer

July 24, 2008 02:07 am

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NORTH ANDOVER — Rita MacDonald was lost in the bookshelves of the romance section yesterday at Annie's Book Stop while Janet Major sifted through the mysteries and Debbie DiBartolo looked through the books about paranormal activity.

The three hadn't met, but they were drawn together by the cozy closeness of the bookshelves and a common lament.

"I hate to see it go," said MacDonald of the town's only bookstore. "It's a great place."

Annie's Book Stop's final day will be July 31. Owner Judy Normandin said the rising cost of fuel, wages and rent makes it tough to keep up with the economy. She said construction in Messina's Shopping Centre doesn't help.

"It's time for a change," Normandin said. She plans to reopen the store, possibly in a bigger location and hopefully in North Andover, but she doesn't know when that will be.

For the customers who crowded the store yesterday, a sadness swept through their conversations.

MacDonald, 80, said she never goes online to buy books, so she depends on bookstores like Annie's Book Stop, as does her husband who frequents the store looking for westerns.

DiBartolo said Annie's Book Stop made buying books affordable. Except for a few new releases and staff favorites, most of the books are used. Customers can also bring books back after reading them and get $1 per book in store credit.

"I'm devastated," said DiBartolo of Methuen. "For us readers, what do we do? And there are a lot of us."

DiBartolo, 51, has two stacks of books at home waiting to be brought back to the bookstore. She doesn't know where she will take them after this.

"It's just too bad. Another little business bites the dust," she said, noting that North Andover seems to be losing a lot of little businesses.

Annie's Book Stop is the fourth store to go out of business at Messina's Shopping Centre, the main plaza on Main Street across from Town Hall. Store owners have cited construction as one thing keeping customers away as the center goes through a major makeover and landscaping.

They have also mentioned that after Lembo's Marketplace closed in 2006, the parking lot is no longer full, and fewer people come to the plaza. The CVS has moved into the space where Lembo's was, but now the space where CVS was sits empty, as does the store that once held Pets Unlimited, which closed in November, and the Video Island store that closed last summer.

Normandin said the plaza really needs an anchor store that will draw more people. Stores that remain include a barber shop and a jewelry store.

Town officials have made fixing up the downtown Main Street a priority and have plans over the next two years to do landscaping, put in new crosswalks, put up new street signs with larger lettering and repave streets. City officials have said drawing more people and more businesses to downtown is important.

Any changes will be too late for Annie's Book Stop, though.

Betty Esposito has been working at the store since it opened in North Andover. She stopped by yesterday just to cheer up Normandin but couldn't help looking up books for customers and answering questions while she was there. She said that's the type of place the store is — somewhere people know each other, somewhere employees enjoy coming even when they aren't working.

Normandin said while the store is closed, she will continue to do special orders for schools and work at book fairs to "keep her hand in" the book world. She said she will also spend time visiting other bookstores and exploring ideas for her next location.

"Bookstores are a fragile business, but we have a loyal following," she said.

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