Prairie Lights Has New Owner  

By Claire Kirch -- Publishers Weekly, 4/22/2008 8:32:00 AM

Jim Harris, owner of Prairie Lights Books in Iowa City, told his 30 employees Sunday evening that he has sold the store he founded 30 years ago to the team of Jan Weissmiller, a long-time employee and poetry buyer at the store, and Jane Mead, a poet who lives in Napa, Calif., both of whom graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Weissmiller and Mead each purchased a third of the ownership of the store as of December 31, and will purchase the remaining third from Harris at the end of this year. “He has until December to change his mind,” joked Weissmiller Tuesday, “But he’s not showing any ambivalence.”

Harris waited until this week to make the news public of the transfer in the iconic store’s ownership so as to “ease Jan into things with the accountants” and also “not to blindside the employees.” Even after he sells his remaining interest in the store, Harris, 61, intends to remain at the store indefinitely as a part-time clerk. Weissmiller, who became Harris’s first full-time employee in 1979, will run the day-to-day operations at the store. Mead plans on remaining in Calif., but will spend 6-8 weeks each year in Iowa City.

When contacted by PW Tuesday morning as the store opened, Harris answered the phone and commented, “What options does one have if one owns a restaurant, a gas station, or a bookstore? You either pass away on the floor or pass it on to someone else.”

Weissmiller said that any changes made to the store under its new ownership will be “subtle.” She expressed her commitment to reaching out more to younger patrons by updating the store’s Web site and making it more interactive. Noting the presence of talented artists and photographers on staff, Weissmiller also said that she “wants to use the staff more” in the store’s programming.

“Iowa City has become a great place to retire,” Weissmiller explained, “Prairie Lights has a future with that demographic. But we also want to be more of a bridge to the younger generation.”

Harris founded Prairie Lights 30 years ago in May. Since then, Prairie Lights has expanded from 1,000 square feet to an 11,000-square-foot bookstore. It stocks approximately 80,000-100,000 literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles on 3-1/2 floors, with a 1,100 square-foot coffeehouse on the remaining half-floor. Prairie Lights is known throughout the country for its “Live from Prairie Lights” program of author readings, which take place either in-store or offsite three times per week, and are taped for statewide broadcast on Iowa State Radio.