So which Clovis book store closed? Not this one.
.JPG "Margarita Engle speaks about her books during a book-signing event presenting her latest work titled “The Wild Book” at Clovis Book Barn in Clovis on March 24, 2012. Engle won the Newberry honor in 2009.")
Rumors that the Clovis Book Barn is closing having been greatly exaggerated, said the store’s owners, Daniel and Peggy Dunklee.
The Dunklees, who have owned the popular Old Town Clovis bookstore for 15 years, aren’t exactly sure how the rumors started, but they believe it may have something to do with the closure of the Clovis Book Nook on Pollasky Avenue several months ago.
“It seemed like all of sudden people started asking us if we were closing,” said Peggy Dunklee. “At first it was just one or two people and then it started happening more often, so we felt we had to tell people it wasn’t true.”
The Dunklees used their Facebook page to help spread the word. The post started with the famous line from American writer and humorist, Mark Twain that said: “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
The post mentioned recent articles in The Fresno Bee and Clovis Roundup about the closing of the Book Nook, a Christian bookstore.
“Many were unaware of Clovis Book Nook and believing the only ‘book store’ left in Clovis was a Book Barn, they assumed the articles were referring to us. Believe me, we have way too much inventory to close,” the Dunklees wrote in their post.
Located at 640 Clovis Ave., the Book Barn is an 8,000-square-foot, two-story used book store with more than 150,000 titles. They also have a warehouse with hundreds more books.
“If we had to liquidate it would take us 10 years,” joked Daniel Dunklee. “We have that many books.”
The Dunklees have run the book barn for 15 years and have no intention of closing. They specialize in local history and children’s books. They also like to feature local authors.
Daniel Dunklee said that despite the rumors, he took comfort by the response from customers who were worried about them.
“It makes us feel good to be part of this community and to hear people say how sad it would be to see us go,” he said. “People still love books, the look, the feel and the smell of books. It takes all your senses to enjoy a book.”
As a bonus to its customers, if you say “not closing” you will get a discount on your purchase.