Mostly Books closed its doors just two weeks ago, but one book lover could not let the town go without this legendary literary hub.The town darling is set to re-open mid-November with the same staff, same books and same layout, thanks to previous Mostly Books employee and romance author, Laura Drewry."When Jane [Moloughney] said she was closing the store I thought, 'we can't not have a bookstore in Squamish,' so I decided to take it on," said Drewry.Moloughney told her staff the beginning of September she was going to close up shop on Friday Oct. 18, after 31 years in business. Moloughney said she closed the store because she was ready to do something different."It has been a good run and I will miss it but it is time to see if I am capable of doing anything else," said Moloughney. She said she credits her loyal customers for keeping Mostly Books alive for so many years."I am truly grateful for our passionate readers. I have been here long enough to see little kids grow up and go to school and come back with kids of their own and a new generation of book lovers," said Moloughney.The store will re-open Saturday, Nov. 12 if everything runs according to plan, said Drewry. Drewry, who began working last June part-time, said she was shocked when she heard the news and within a week, decided to buy the store."It was always one of those dreams to own my own bookstore," said Drewry.Since then she has been busy re-ordering and contacting representatives of book companies, with the help of Moloughney."Jane has been fabulous. She must have 100 accounts with different distributors," said Drewry. " Her strengths are in current affairs and literary affairs, my suit is pop fiction, so Jane has been showing me what books to watch out for."She said she has been helping Drewry open the store again because she would like to see her succeed in a global market. Moloughney explained that the chain stores such as Chapters and Indigo can make competition very difficult but she hopes that with the economic crisis consumers will be buying locally to help their economy rather than, "shopping online where the store might not even be from this country.""I'm ecstatic that Laura is taking over the store. She is an author and book lover so it is a great fit," said Moloughney. "Every healthy town needs a bookstore and definitely someone else would have opened one soon if it wasn't Laura."Drewry said she plans to keep the store looking exactly the same for the time being."It is so unique. There are old pictures of Squamish and it is just such a cute little store. Every town needs something like this. It brings personality to the downtown," said Drewry.She said she will eventually bring in computers to handle the log keeping, since to date there have only been written accounts, and she will add in a romance book section to the store.Drewry is a novelist and has published four romance novels, the latest coming out in December entitled Dancing with the Devil. It's the second installment to her previous book, The Devil's Daughter.Moloughney said she wouldn't call herself retired just yet - she's already been offered work within the book industry - but she has no concrete plans."I'm looking forward to some free time," said Moloughney. "This is the first time I haven't had to work Christmas Eve."
