Storefront shifting
Volume One bookstore closes for 'financial reasons'
Mary Petrides
Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: News
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People have been in and out all afternoon. College students glanced briefly through the shelves. A woman walked straight to the back room, where Wunsch keeps his paperbacks. She was unaware that the store had closed.
Wunsch cited financial reasons for closing the store. He said he plans to keep it open on Mondays from 2-6 p.m., and he hopes to reopen the store before spring.
Wunsch has owned Volume One for 25 years in five different locations downtown. He estimates having 35,000 to 40,000 books priced and for sale in the store.
He decided last Thursday to close his doors indefinitely. The store closed last Saturday.
"The problem is that we just didn't generate enough cash," he said. "And that's what you need. The bottom line is the bottom line."
Manager Aimee England, 40, who has worked for Volume One since she was 18, said there was no heat in the building for a month. The two had had a payroll dispute as well.
But England said she isn't sure the business is losing money.
"[Wunsch] is quite behind on the bookkeeping," England said.
The two negotiated the possibility that Wunsch would sell the business to England, but they did not reach an agreement.
England said she talked to friends and colleagues for advice and before turning down the offer. She said Wunsch refused to sign a Covenant Not to Compete, which would prevent him from starting a similar, competing business after selling the bookstore to her. Additionally, England said the bookstore has a "high dollar amount" of debt.
England said the biggest red flag was the time pressure in signing the deal.
"Four days is not enough time for someone to make a business deal," England said.
Wunsch declined comment on the negotiations.
Everyone, it seems, was sad to see the store go.
Dave Martin, 43, a Hillsdale resident, said he has been collecting records since 1980 and tries to buy locally whenever he can. He has been a frequent customer at Volume One.
"I don't sell nothing," Martin said. "I buy, collect and play."
Martin said he likes music from the 1900s up through the 1980s.
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