The Storybook Shoppe , a children’s bookstore that has been a fixture in Old Town Bluffton for nearly 15 years, is looking for a new home and doesn’t have time to waste.
The bookstore, which has been on a month-to-month lease since it opened at 41 Calhoun St., was notified Jan. 5 that it must be out of the building by Feb. 10.
“We are desperately seeking a space,” owner Sally Sue Lavinge told The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.
The Complete Home , also a tenant in the same building, must move as well. Owner Mary O’Neil said she fully understands this is a “business move.”
O’Neil will be moving her store to a new location a few blocks away, but construction will not be complete for approximately eight months.
Lavinge bought the Storybook Shoppe from Nancy Beaupre in 2015, and landlord Peter Palladino has owned the building since 2016.
Palladino said that, when he acquired the property, there was no signed lease agreement in place. It was a verbal, handshake and month-to-month arrangement. He said he never raised the rent for either of the tenants, even though the monthly amount was below market value for the area.