A religious book store in Quakertown is holding a closing sale as it prepares to say goodbye after roughly 85 years of business.
Friendly Book Store announced the sale in January at 300 W. Broad St., offering a 30% discount on items including bibles, children’s books, greeting cards, DVDs and CDs. An exact closing date hasn’t been set yet.
“No one is happy about this,” said owner Jim Roberts.
Rev. Linford Rotenberger established the bookstore in 1940 at 224 W. Broad St. before it moved to the current property in 1961, where Rotenberger’s family continues to operate it. They once had a wholesale operation for distributing greeting cards until that ended in 2018.
Roberts, a Quakertown Borough Council member, is Rotenberger’s son-in-law, having married Rotenberger’s daughter and borough Tax Collector Donna Roberts (she handles the store’s payroll). Kathy Pickering, Donna’s sister and office manager, works part time at the store.
“I feel Mom and Dad would be very thankful the store has survived this long after their being gone for all these years,” Pickering said.
Linford Rotenberger died in 1996. His wife, Kathryn, passed in 2012.
Jim’s son Mike Roberts, who previously worked part time at the store, said he felt “certainly sad and disappointed, but we know that this is the way that things are supposed to go, and so we can move ahead at peace and content with that. Would we like it to keep going? Sure, but that’s not the way that things went and we can go with that and we’re fine with that.”
Jim Roberts called the store not just a business but a “ministry” for troubled people looking for a book to help — dating books, marriage books, things to guide people.
“A Christian bookstore is unique, right?,” Mike Roberts said. “We serve people in a different way. It’s not just about merchandise, but you do get a chance to sometimes try to help people through difficulties that they’re going through, personal problems, and you get a chance sometimes to talk about those things and to try to help them and be an encouragement. That doesn’t happen in most other businesses, not of a retail nature.”
When asked about his favorite parts of operating the store, Jim said it was the human contact and “being identified with the Christian community as a wholesome place for people to come for both reading material, for gifts.”
Jim, 81, attributed the closure to his age, declining foot traffic and how online retailers like Amazon have made it difficult for smaller retailers to compete long past the “growth spurts of Christian bookstores” in the 1970s and ’80s.
Jim hopes, at least, the good the bookstore did will last.
“I think when you contribute wholesome reading … it’s not just reading, but things that … books that help create wholesome relationships, all that, you’re adding a positive thing to your environment,” he said. “To your social and culture environment around you, that’s what you’re doing.”
Jim said the property, which was owned by his wife and sister-in-law, has been sold to his friends Richard and Angela Smith. He acknowledged that the store’s departure was “creating a vacuum that I don’t know how will be filled.”
Richard Smith, who owns RTS Construction, said the purchase is an investment to fill a future need for the community as Quakertown develops.
They haven’t decided the property’s next use yet, but he has considered a bakery or a satellite location for a bakery, and intends to have a new use up and running this summer.
“I always like to try to predict the future and then maybe build or figure out what’s the niche that’s going to be in the future and provide that for the community,” he said.
“We’re just open to ideas and open to what would help the community as it develops, and be in front of that,” Angela said.
Lehigh Valley retail and restaurant news in brief
Wawa will offer free coffee and T-shirts for its grand opening Thursday at 3015 Lehigh St. in Allentown, the former site of the Brass Rail restaurant.
The Bacon Strip reopened Tuesday at 18 N. Second St. in Coplay, about a year after a fire forced it to close.
Oasis: Community Wellbeing Hub announced it will have a grand opening open house at 10 a.m. March 21 at the ground floor of the Walnut Street Garage in Bethlehem. It will host a tea and juice bar as well as yoga and fitness classes.
A new restaurant will open within a year to replace the former TGI Fridays at the Shops at Cedar Point at 395 S. Cedar Crest Blvd. in Allentown. It’ll be run by the same owner of the popular Shelby restaurant in Lower Macungie Township.
The furniture store Unclaimed Freight announced on its website a closing sale at 2260 Industrial Drive in Bethlehem. St. Luke’s University Health Network has acquired the property and, according to spokesperson Gary Blockus, “intends to utilize a substantial portion of the property to expand its high-quality core lab services to better serve the Community.”
Decor Home Furniture & Mattresses also announced a closing sale at 2178 W. Union Blvd. in Bethlehem.
Retail Watch is a weekly column covering retail and restaurant news in the Lehigh Valley. Have a question, tip, or want to see something in the area? Contact retail reporter Graysen Golter at retailwatch@mcall.com.
