KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Glen Moody, owner of Moody Book Corporation, has decided to close his physical retail store and move his business online.
A little over a month and a half ago Moody closed his “I Love Books Bookstore” in the Fort Henry Mall.
Since then, all of the books have been boxed and moved into one warehouse in Colonial Heights. Moody says this totals about half a million books.
Moody says this move reflects where the book sales business is moving.
“The retail book business is about over and online is where book sales are these days,” said Moody. “And more used books are sold than old books so that’s where the big market is.”
Moody insists this isn’t a big change for the business that has been online for the past 20 years.
“Most of our business has been about 10 percent online, but that’s about the percentage of my time I’ve been able to devote to it, but now I’ll be devoting a lot more time to it,” said Moody.
This decision to move online has come about as a larger plan toward retirement.
“We could’ve stayed longer if we wanted to, but I didn’t want my kids to have to wind this business down and I realize I’m not going to live forever,” said Moody.
This move may be a big change, but there’s one thing that stays the same for Moody – his love for books.
“Yeah I love books,” said Moody. “There’s a book called ‘The Man Who Loved Books Too Much’ and that may be me.”
Although the business no longer has a physical retail store, Moody still emphasizes that he wants to treat it like a local business.
He says local customers can still contact him through the number listed under his old bookstore to place orders. They can also come to the warehouse to pick up orders placed and avoid paying the delivery fee.
