The interior of The Village Bookshop in Waldoboro. (Alexander Violo photo)
Waldoboro’s new secondhand bookstore has a name – The Village Bookshop – and is open for business as of Wednesday, July 10.
All proceeds from book sales benefit the Waldoboro Public Library, which owns and operates the shop. Volunteers staff the shop at 25 Friendship St., where it shares space with the Waldoboro office of Midcoast Conservancy.
According to volunteer Andy Lackoff, the shop is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
“We are open for business and we have a fair amount of books here,” Lackoff said, with most genres represented.
Lackoff said the store sold around $20 worth of books its first morning in operation.
Robert Butler, chair of the Waldoboro Board of Selectman and treasurer of the library’s board of trustees, said The Village Bookshop is a provisional name, meaning it could change in the future.
The historical reference section at The Village Bookshop in Waldoboro. (Alexander Violo photo)
The bookshop has roughly 500 square feet of space on the left side of the Friendship Street building.
Lackoff said the library wanted to have the shop open for the second ArtWalk Waldoboro of the summer on Saturday, July 13.
The art walks take place on every second Saturday of each month from June through October. The remaining walks will take place Aug. 10, Sept. 14, and Oct. 12.
The Waldoboro Public Library previously operated The Book Barn, a secondhand bookshop with the same purpose as the new one, at 995 Main St., from 1996-2014.
After The Book Barn closed, the nonprofit Friends of the Waldoboro Public Library looked for a new space for a few years.
The Village Bookshop is now open at 25 Friendship St. in Waldoboro. (Alexander Violo photo)
Jean Smith, a 2016 transplant to Waldoboro who had volunteered at Skidompha Library in Damariscotta for about 11 years, revitalized the effort in April of this year.
Lackoff said The Village Bookshop’s inventory primarily comes from donations and anyone who wants to donate books can bring them to the library, at 958 Main St.
The library will not accept Reader’s Digest magazines or textbooks.
“We are looking for books that are clean and in good shape. Hopefully we will be able to take them,” Lackoff said.
The bookshop does not have a phone number, but questions can go to the library at 832-4484.
