After losing its lease, Ukazoo Books in Towson, Md. is moving from its 10,000 sq. ft. location in Towson, Md., and downsizing to 2,800 sq. ft. space in Parkville, Md. The store will close on December 11 and reopen at the end of January in its new location.
Ukazoo general manager and co-owner Edward Whitfill regards the move as an opportunity to grow the business once again with a smaller bookstore model that can still accommodate as many as 50,000 books. “This will be good for us,” Whitfill, told PW.
Although the landlord chose the pre-Christmas timing, Whitfill views the change in size and location as an opportunity to play with the Ukazoo new and used bookstore model at a time of rising rent. Not only will it be less expensive to operate a smaller bookstore, but also the neighborhood that the bookstore is moving to is much more walkable.
At one time Ukazoo had as many as four locations plus a warehouse in Toledo, Ohio, it used for its online sales business. The other three Ukazoo stores closed in November 2012 when Ukazoo’s parent company, Pro Quo Books, sold the bookstores and online business to Discover Books. In 2013, Whitfill and Pro Quo’s founders, Jack and Seth Revelle, along with a former Pro Quo employee purchased the original Towson store along with the Ukazoo name.
When word got out in early November at the start of its going-out-of-business sale that the bookstore needed a new home, Whitfill received numerous offers to relocate from communities in the Baltimore area that wanted a neighborhood bookstore, including the town of Bel Air, where he lives. If the new store is successful, Whitfill and his co-owners will explore opening bookstores in those neighborhoods, or creating a franchise to help others open similar bookstores with new and select used books.
