Atlantic Books Stores to Close This Fall
The two Ocean City Boardwalk locations have been hurt by "technology."
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Atlantic Books, an institution in Jersey Shore towns, is closing its two Ocean City Boardwalk locations this fall, along with its other beach stores.
Employees were told the news a week before bright yellow signs declaring "Store Closing. Everything Must Go." were mounted Thursday in the windows of the stores in the 800 and 1200 blocks of the Ocean City Boardwalk.
But on the eve of a mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Irene, no one paid attention to the 25-percent-off sale until businesses reopened on Monday.
The stores in Stone Harbor, Cape May and Beach Haven, and two stores in Delaware beach towns are closing, too.
"It does break my heart," owner Mark Simon said. "I love to read."
But after 35 years in business and 30 years in Ocean City, Simon said he had to face reality.
"We just looked at it and said there is no possible way we can expect a realistic return on our investment. The plug should have been pulled two years ago," he said by phone Wednesday evening. "The short part of it is, the retail book business is on the decline because of the Internet, e-books and a lot of other competition."
Simon also mentioned "extraordinarily high" Boardwalk rents among the factors he took into consideration in making his decision to close the stores.
Shoppers at both Ocean City stores commiserated Wednesday with Atlantic Books staff members, and many lamented the personal touch that will disappear with the stores. Even the competition expressed regret at the stores’ passing.
"I feel badly," said Rosalyn Lifshin, co-owner of Sun Rose Words & Music in the 700 block of Asbury Avenue. "I think Atlantic Books has been a good book store in town, and I hate to see them leave."
The closing of the stores, which Simon projects will happen in late September to early October, presents an opportunity to Sun Rose's owners. "It's bittersweet," said Sun Rose co-owner Nancy Miller of the news that Atlantic Books' departure will leave the independent book store as the town's only remaining source for book sales. "I hate the fact a book store is closing because it means people are relying on electronic readers."
"Technology" is the one-word answer an employee in the 800 block store gave to a caller to the store, who asked the question, "What's happening?"
"Amazon, Kindle, e-reader" were all said with a tinge of disgust by those who love the printed word. The conversations that are spawned by a visit to a book store, the feel of a book in hand, the smell of freshly printed pages being flipped through, these are things that cannot be replicated by an online service or a battery-operated device, Atlantic Books employees said.
Miller at Sun Rose holds out hope that enough book-loving people will trickle off the Boardwalk and find her store in the heart of the city's downtown shopping district. "There is always going to be a segment of the population that wants to handle books," she said. "I think we're good for another many years, until a future generation comes along that has never handled books."
"It is what it is," said Simon, who, at 62 years old, has seen the demise of other entertainment forms and the inevitability of his own. "It happened to music, it happened to videos, and it's happening to books. It's treated me well, I'll say that. But it's time to move on."
In This article
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Atlantic Books
1208 Boardwalk, Ocean City, NJ -
Atlantic Books
818 Boardwalk, Ocean City, NJ -
Sun Rose Words and Music
756 Asbury Ave, Ocean City, NJ
tax payer
10:09 pm on Wednesday, August 31, 2011
sad, to see a busienss close,, it as all that close leaves a whole that cannot be flilled , maybe a pizza place will be there next year.. so sad.. times change and change is good except for the busienss owner. who now has no busienss.. good luck
frank G
11:29 pm on Wednesday, August 31, 2011
A beach town without a book store? Just what are people doing on the beach all day—reading magazines? They will be missed.
Pat Kazanjian
12:07 am on Thursday, September 1, 2011
Yep. The demise has happened to music, to videos, to books, and (right here) to newspapers...
Eleanor
6:03 am on Thursday, September 1, 2011
After the Atlantic Books closed in Somers Point it seemed like a matter of time. I know that the e books have taken off but sometimes i think the problem is that people do not think of reading books as 'worth their time'. Too bad because my TBR pile is always 3-4 books high.
Ocean City Arts Center
12:02 pm on Thursday, September 1, 2011
I am always sad to see a business close. There is, however, a book store in our
town...Sun Rose Words and Music, at 756 Asbury Avenue, open year around since
1973.
Nan
1:52 pm on Thursday, September 1, 2011
Having grown up the daughter of a boardwalk business owner, this is sad news. The stores will probably be replaced with scores of tacky Ocean City souvenirs that, if turned over, will say "made in China". Although I own an eReader, nothing replaces the smell of a new paperback book, ink fresh from printing, nor the feel of grains of sand sliding across the paper pages as they are turned.
Ron Ardell
3:44 pm on Thursday, September 1, 2011
E reading and the peoplke who use them, are killing bookstores, publishers and the people that print them. We complain about jobs and we are the ones killing them. These stores are closing because we did not buy enough books. Simple
Nancy
8:52 pm on Thursday, September 1, 2011
what happened to Bookateria? is it still there?
M. M. Moran
5:28 pm on Friday, September 2, 2011
I have been a long term customer of both their stores in Ocean City during my vacations, frist from Ohio and now from Texas. I can't imagine their stores not being there next year. They were always on my to visit list. I am not a techno-nut, but a voracious reader, always with a good book in my tote bag or purse. This is surely a loss for the Boardwalk and all their long time customers. Not all change is good.....
Melani Lamond
6:44 pm on Friday, September 2, 2011
I was always eager to read books that were being recommended by the Atlantic Book Stores on the Ocean City boardwalk. They weren't on best-seller lists; I'd not have known about them if I didn't visit the stores. Their suggested book The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng is one of the best books I've ever read! Atlantic Books, especially the store on the 800 block, was one of the main reasons I'd visit the boardwalk. How empty it will seem without them there!
gina
11:35 pm on Thursday, September 8, 2011
Our 3 children and we LOVE the Atlantic City bookstore in Beach Haven since 2003 - we definitely spent a ton of $ each time we went...I almost cried when I heard about it closing - it should never have moved from next door to Uncle Will's! The staff probably know who I am by writing this - and I don't think we will be able to visit before it closes, to say goodbye and to take a photo in front of the store. My oldest daughter and I would bike there to buy magazines for recipe ideas...we got our NYT there...we got puzzles, and of course a ton of books. Today I visited the Borders in our neighborhood that is closing in 9 days...we have been going there since my kids were born...I wonder if Barnes & Noble will survive....our grandkids probably won't know what a bookstore is! Is there any way to change this?