BOOKSTORE

In the distance, the forlorn sound of a train horn wailed as snow fell.

“People coming by are taking this as a very personal loss,” Friedlinghaus said. “Several have been brought to tears — and several wouldn’t take the discount. I never would have imagined. The responses have totally amazed me.”

The store was constructed in 1910 as the original Linworth United Methodist Church and was converted to a bookstore in 1969. NAI Ohio Equities has listed the 8,000-square-foot building, which stands on 1.4 acres, for $1.295 million.

The property is in contract, Friedlinghaus said, although “there are some issues that the potential buyer is working through.”

The store officially began its going-out-of-business sale June 3. Friedlinghaus attributes the extended closing of his store to the fact that he owns the property.

The Village Bookshop’s long goodbye may have put it in technical violation of state law.

While the Ohio Attorney General’s office would not comment on a specific situation, the office referred

questions about going-outof-business sales to Ohio’s Distress Sale Rule. That rule indicates that such sales shouldn’t be conducted for more than 45 days, although the sale can be extended for an additional 45 days.

Friedlinghaus said he believes there is some leeway.

“Bookstores are on the way out, so I think anyone would overlook the fact that we’ve had to extend the time (of closing),” he said. “There’s really no future in bookstores (of larger size). There is a niche, though, for smaller bookstores with less overhead. They can survive.”

Friedlinghaus, 77, was in the electronics business when he decided to change direction and buy the bookshop in 1983, turning it into a family affair, with his wife and daughter pitching in.

“So I’m making a judicious retreat from a business that has defined my life for the past 35 years,” he said.

After the store finally closes and the building is sold, Friedlinghaus said, he doesn’t know what he will do.

“Maybe I’m going to be retiring,” he said. “But retirement is like a line in Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ I quote. It’s one of ‘the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.’”