PROVIDENCE – The operators of a storied, independent downtown bookstore will be closing shop next month.
Current manager of Cellar Stories bookstore, Victoria Forsberg-Lary, said on Monday they will not be renewing their lease and will close permanently on Jan. 31, 2023.
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A message posted Sunday to the Cellar Stories Instagram page read in part, “It is no small feat to stick around as long as we have, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our loyal customers near and far, and our amazing community here in Providence.”
The property is owned by Magna Sprits Inc., according to city tax assessor records, and is currently appraised at $982,900, after the latest property revaluation.
Opened in 1982 by Michael Chandley in the cellar unit at 184 Mathewson St., the operation eventually moved in 2007 to its current location to the second floor space at 111 Mathewson St.
Chandley, who held a literature degree from Providence College, died in 2018.
The store specialized vintage and rare books on Rhode Island history, New England history, art, architecture, modern first editions, poetry, and mathematics, according to its website, and had a stock of more than 70,000 volumes.
Forsberg-Lary said that all remaining inventory will be discounted by 50% until closing day.
The retail book business, which has moved online in greater numbers in recent years, has made the survival of independent bookstores, especially in major cities with climbing property values, increasingly difficult, said, Forsberg-Lary, who is now planning to open an online book business specializing in rare and antiquarian volumes.
“We really enjoy selling books,” she said. “But it’s become apparent that the brick-and-mortar bookshop model does not really work anymore. It has been a struggle just to break even.”
Forsberg-Lary said she has been received a flood of messages from former customers, many now in other regions of the country, who closely identified Cellar Stories with their time in the city.
“It has been really nice to see the outpouring of appreciation from a lot of these customers,” she said. “We became kind of an institution.”
Cellar Stories will be open from Thurs. to Sat. from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
(Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com)
