Brothers buy downtown bookstore.

Byline: RETAIL NOTEBOOK By Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

A yearlong repositioning in the local bookstore business is continuing this week with the purchase of Emerald City Fine Books by brothers Erin and Brian Wolfe.

The store at 1044 Willamette St., in the historic McDonald Theater building, has been closed since Sunday but will reopen Friday as Wolfe Bros. Books.

"What we'd really like to focus on primarily is the community," Erin Wolfe says. "We'd like to have the books they'd like to read, at good prices. But my real love is the collectible books - the old, leather-bound books, and that kind of thing. Those are kind of the extras."

Wolfe Bros. will continue to build its collection of "antiquarian" and collectible books, primarily to satisfy its already-established base of Internet customers. But local customers are expected to be attracted by the store's collection of 30,000 used, general-interest books.

"We're looking to kind of make it a place that's comfortable for people to come in, sit and read a book for a while," Wolfe says.

He and his brother are essentially taking over the Emerald City Fine Books business, which has been operated since 1998 by Jerry Weinstein and his son, Mark. Erin and Brian Wolfe have both been working at the store, and have arranged to buy the operation from the Weinsteins.

"We've been in discussion with Erin and Brian for some time," Mark Weinstein says. "We're just trying to find a way they can become owners, and what we've done is create an opportunity for the employees to buy into the business. They'll be majority owners."

Mark Weinstein says he will remain a silent partner with a minority interest in the business, helping out with day-to-day operations "as much as they want me to be here."

The change in ownership is the most recent development in an eventful year for locally owned book shops.

The Book Mark, a literary landmark at 856 Olive St. in downtown Eugene, closed in April after its owners retired and were unable to find a buyer for the business. But within a month, longtime Book Mark employees Amelia Reising and James Squires opened Books Without Borders at The Strand, a marketplace in the former Anderson's Sporting Goods Building at Eighth Avenue and Charnelton Street.

Then in June, the owners of Tsunami Books at 2585 Willamette St. announced plans to close their store and liquidate its inventory to ease a longstanding burden of debt. A week later, a group of customers came forward with enough money to erase the debt, and the store's ownership was restructured to make them shareholders.

"One thing that's happened with the book business over the last 20 years is that there are more forms of media and content out there," says Mark Weinstein. "That, compounded with the wide availability of common titles on the Internet, has really caused a restructuring of the market."

Local booksellers also have cited the emergence of giant bookstore chains such as Borders and Barnes & Noble as causing a shakeout in the market across the nation. Nearly 50 percent of all independent bookstores have closed over the past decade, according to industry groups.

Wolfe Bros. Books will have regular store hours of Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

This weekend, the store will take advantage of Eugene Celebration crowds by being open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Retail Notebook runs on Thursdays. Joe Mosley can be reached at 338-2384 or [e-mail].