A Cappella Books is packing up and leaving its longtime Little Five Points home for a new location in a new neighborhood. But patrons of the landmark new and used bookstore won’t have to travel far to reach the new space.
Owner Frank Reiss is moving from the current 800-plus square foot venue on Moreland Avenue to a 1,000 square foot space just about a block away on Haralson Avenue. Reiss said the current location will remain open through January and he hopes to open his new space on Feb. 1.
The store has been a mainstay in Little Five Points for 22 years and for the past 8 years it has been in its current spot at 484 Moreland Ave. The move means more space for Reiss, but potentially less foot traffic since the new location is not in the center of a major shopping district.
“There’s an auto repair shop and a barber shop next to us,” Reiss said, “so we’ll be a destination instead of depending on foot traffic.”
In recent years the store has struggled to stay afloat as shoppers and readers have migrated to digital books and purchasing their books through online mega-retailers like Amazon. Rent will be cheaper in the new space and Reiss said he may keep shorter retail hours and may reduce the days of operation from seven days a week to five or six. He also plans to keep his current staffing levels of two full-time employees and two part-time employees.
All books in the store went on sale Monday, most of them at least 25 percent off. Within hours of the sale’s announcement, people were flooding the store.
“If yesterday was any indication, it was better than any day we had during the Christmas season and we had a pretty good Christmas season,” Reiss said Tuesday.
And yet Reiss, who has been in the independent bookstore business most of his career, said he signed a one-year lease for the Inman Park location. Any longer than that could prove precarious for an old school purveyor of books, he said.
“Let’s see how this goes,” Reiss said. “I’m optimistic but I’m also realistic.”
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