Two John Marshalls are leaving the bookstore business.

Strangely there have been two of us John Marshalls owning two bookstores within about a mile of each other. The “other” John Marshall owns Open Books A Poem Emporium. The writer of this blog is co-owner of our Episcopal Bookstore. Nancy and I have been looking for a buyer for our ministry-which-is-the-store and things are looking very hopeful. (Can’t say anymore at this time.) Today, the other John Marshall has announced that his poetry bookstore is for sale so that he can retire.

It has always been good to have bookstores congregate. Poetry bookstores are very rare in the U.S., and religious bookstores in Seattle are unusual too because this is one of the least-churched parts of the country. Having two bookstore owners with the same name in the same neighborhood both selling their stores is also rare.

In my humble opinion both stores are rare in the quality and uniqueness of the books that they offer to the community.