After 27 years of running a small, independent book store in downtown Bucksport, the owner has decided he’s ready to hand over the reins.
Andy Lacher, who first opened BookStacks in 1997, said he has found a buyer for the Main Street mainstay, but that nothing else has been decided. Regardless of how soon the sale happens, he will still be there helping the new owner get on her feet.
“I’m going to be sticking around for a while,” Lacher said. “There’s a lot of training for the new owner.”
Kate Corwin is the new bookseller-in-waiting. She confirmed the preliminary succession plan Monday.
“There’s a long way to go, and there is no set timeline as of yet,” she said.
Lacher acknowledged he’s dealt with personal challenges in recent years, including the disappearance in 2022 of his son, Graham Lacher.
But he said it was a health scare for him that started the process of him deciding to sell BookStacks, which also functions as a coffee shop and wine store. In late 2022, he spent a few days in the hospital after suffering a cardiac episode.
“The heart attack made it clear,” Lacher said. “I’m going to be 71 pretty soon, and it’s pretty obvious that I can’t keep doing this indefinitely.”
Corwin said that she has lived in Bucksport for 20 years and has long been a customer of Lacher’s business. She said she believes downtown Bucksport is experiencing a revival and that she is eager to be part of it.
“Bookstacks has been a constant source of knowledge and escapism nearly my whole life,” she said. “It is very exciting and truly a dream come true.”
Corwin is a new mother and, having held various customer service jobs, has been looking for a change in careers, she said. She studied fashion design and merchandising in college and says there are parallels between those industries and selling books.
“I have already learned a great deal from Andy,” she said.
Before he started BookStacks, Lacher worked for more than a dozen years for Mr. Paperback — the now-defunct Maine chain of bookstores — in Brewer, Belfast and Bangor. A lot has changed in the book industry since he entered it 40 years ago, but Bookstacks and other independent bookstores have survived, and he is happy to share everything he knows about it with Corwin.
“Any small business owner will tell you it’s his or her life, and their spouse will agree,” he said.
And while he plans to help Corwin succeed, he also is looking forward to spending less time at work and more time with his wife.
“That’s the idea,” he said.
