Here’s some encouraging news about Penn Book Center, the independent bookstore at 34th and Sansom whose owners Ashley Montague and Michael Row announced last spring that they were struggling to stay in business and would close their doors permanently in May 2019. According to this week’s announcement, the store will stay open thanks to new owners, Matt Duquès and Diana Bellonby.

After Penn faculty and students launched a campaign to save the store, which included a petition signed by more than 5,000 people, the University of Pennsylvania, the store’s landlords, extended the lease for the summer to give Montague and Row time to work out a new plan to stay open. Duquès and Bellonby, who were in the process of moving from Alabama to Philadelphia, heard of the campaign and soon began negotiations to buy the store which was founded in 1962. 

“We felt terrible about closing, and we are so grateful to the many people who organized to save this wonderful institution – to Penn faculty and students, to our customers, to the Penn real estate folks, and especially to Matt and Diana, Row said in a statement.

“Matt and Diana are the perfect people to build on the legacy of the Penn Book Center,” said Montague. “As academics, they understand what makes the Penn Book Center unique, but they also have the vision to make it a viable business.”

Bellonby is a scholar of Victorian literature and Duquès, a New Jersey native, has a background in retail and hospitality and has been an English professor at the University of North Alabama for the last five years.

Anyone interested in meeting the new owners are invited to a reception at the store, located at 130 S. 34th St., on Friday, Sept. 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. (please RSVP here).