Well, it is all but official, even without a public release. Pikeville Medical Center has bought the Town and Country shopping center where my bookstore, Booknotes, is located. However, they will not be the ones involved in day-to-day management. This will go to the utility firm UMG. UMG also handled other duties in Pikeville. So far, everything is supposed to stay the same, but I am still weary. The biggest change is that the Super Dollar Food Center will be closing around the first of the year, as well as the fun center next to it. The employees will get new roles in local Food City markets. No new replacement stores are forecast, as there really isn't that much new space in the Pikeville/Coal Run area.
Supposedly, all leases will hold, and new tenants are being looked for the vacant spaces. Already, some beautification and cleaning projects have happened. The outsides of each unit are going to be painted different colors, although the tenants don't have a say about which colors get chosen. I hear there will be a lot of orange and black to reflect the colors of UPike. On the plus side, the rent is technically going down. However, there will now be a monthly maintenance fee, instead of the yearly one we originally had. This means the monthly total will actually go up a little bit.
No one can confirm what the former grocery store will be used for. The main rumor is that it will be a daycare center. Some have speculated that it will be a new warehouse. One thought suggests that the center will become home to a new children's hospital, replacing the two floors it currently resides in on the main campus. A secondary building behind the center is already being torn down, for some reason. I didn't even think it was unoccupied.
We are still thinking about moving the store if we can find a new place. As I mentioned above, there aren't many good places left to find, as the hospital and university have grabbed up most of the better spots. Those that are left are a little too close to the river to our liking. Prestonsburg is still a possibility, if we can find a spot that still has traffic. For instance, the center where Readmore was is still for rent, as are many other units in that center. Even the Super Dollar there isn't getting much business, from what I can tell.
Anyway, we are hoping to hold an anniversary/open house event next month, and we have started to place the book orders for it. Hopefully, we will be able to do it without too many problems, but with everything going on, who knows what to expect.
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