‘If you are into books, this is the place to be’
As Bethel’s Relay Bookhouse closes, more than 200,000 books collected by late owners to go on sale
BETHEL — Longtime bookseller Joel Orton collected hundreds of thousands of books stacked from floor to ceiling in his shop on Greenwood Avenue.
Now, the more than 200,000 books left by Joel Orton, the late owner of the Relay Bookhouse, are on sale this week as the 27-year-old store closes.
“Joel Orton and his partner were dedicated to books,” said Kathy Murphy, who co-owns the estate sales company organizing the sale. “They wanted to make this store a destination spot for buying books and you can see that with the vast amount of books they accumulated.”
Orton, who died on Aug. 6 after battling colon cancer, and his late girlfriend-business partner Virginia “Ginny” Reppy Russack opened Relay Bookhouse in
Bethel in 1995. His son said the family is unable to keep the business going.
Instead, a sale will be held at the store from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The liquidation sale is the largest the Windy Cats Estate Sales company has organized in the company’s eight-year history.
“There are so many great books there for children and adults,” Murphy said. “Many of them weren’t identified or categorized and we did that too. If you are into books, this is the place to be.”
‘Interesting and countless items’
Before the liquidation sale could even begin, work had to be done to get the store ready for the public.
“We had to spend a month preparing the store for the liquidation sale,” Murphy said. “There were books piled from the floor to the ceiling throughout the store. We had to organize the books just so you could make the store walkable.”
In addition to the books in the store, more than 2,000 boxes of additional books were found around the property, said Nikko Dalessio, co-owner of Windy Cats. That includes 600 books in Orton’s home and a shed on the property.
Every book, new or old, will be sold for $2.
“There are a lot of interesting and countless
items in the home for sale including two cars,” Dalessio said.
This is the second liquidation sale because there were so many items.
“The Relay Bookhouse was a very popular bookstore in town,” said Janice
Chrzescijanek, economic development director in Bethel. “When I drove by the store the mornings they had the first liquidation sale there were long lines of people waiting to go in.”
She expects another business to move into the retail
spot at some point.
“There are no applications and we haven’t received any inquiries yet from any business that wants to move in to the property,” Chrzescijanek said. “The property is a unique mixture of residential and retail. There is a need for commercial space in Bethel, it’s in a great location and I expect it to draw a lot of interest from other businesses.”
Some of the book categories available at the liquidation sale are authorsigned
first editions, fiction, non-fiction, antique, children’s books (including vintage), craft, art, collectibles, sports, music, cats/ dogs/horses/animals, political, U.S. and International history, vintage pulp fiction, horror (including vintage), sci-fi (including vintage), Disney, Peanuts/Snoopy, automotive, travel (domestic and international), romance, poems, business, finance/investing, science, aeronautical/aviation, movies/entertainment, home improvement, holidays, audio books, photography, fashion, architecture, hunting, self-help, gardening, cookbooks, and religion.
Items of interest at both the home and store include a Remington Bronze Sculpture “The Wicked Pony”, two Volkswagen Vanagons, various book ends, artwork, book cases/shelves, retail displays (some antique), greeting cards with displays, comic books, postcards, sheet music, maps, ephemera, Vintage Life and Fortune Magazine Collections, jewelry, dolls (some vintage), Gund stuffed animals, records, CD’s, VHS tapes, vintage Grundig Console Stereo, vintage bikes, cameras, patio furniture, ice cream parlor chairs and table, tools, Coca-Cola retail cooler/refrigerator.
History of the bookstore
Orton and Reppy Russack were dedicated to providing the public the largest collection of books possible. Reppy Russack, an avid reader whose mom Virginia Lee Reppy was an antiquarian book dealer, died in 2014 after a brief illness, according to her obituary.
When Reppy Russack died, Orton continued running the store and acquiring books. He moved to South Carolina to be with his son Doug Orton and his family when he was diagnosed with cancer.
“My dad and Virginia loved books and they loved the bookstore,” Doug Orton said. “He was always reading books. He would always get excited when there was an opportunity to get more books from a store that was going out of business or at a flea market. I tried to figure out a way to keep the store going but I just can’t do it living in South Carolina.”
For more information you can go to the Windy Cats Estate Sale website at http://www.windycats.com/ our-next-sale.html where you can also find photos of the store and a 46-second video tour of the Relay Book-house store.
“When it comes to the liquidation sale, it is packed full of fantastic treasures thanks to Joel Orton’s keen eye and his passion for collecting everything,” Murphy said. “I urge people to come out and find your treasure.”