Marshfield bookstore reopens with new ownership

A bookstore that opened on the Marshfield square earlier this year has a new name and ownership.

Marshfield husband and wife Andrew and Sally Scrivener are the owners of The Next Chapter Bookshop LLC at 101 N. Clay St., which reopened Aug. 17 under the new name. Sally Scrivener said the bookstore originally opened in March as Down the Rabbit Hole LLP under the ownership of Crystal Hilton and Amber Brand. Scrivener said she was a volunteer at the shop, which fills roughly 400 square feet inside the same building as Clay Street Boutique, also owned by Brand.

“They reached out to my husband and I towards the beginning of July and asked if we’d be interested in taking it over,” Scrivener said, noting Down the Rabbit Hole had been closed since late May. “It was a pretty easy decision for me. I’ve always wanted to run a bookstore. It’s been a dream of mine.”

Terms of the deal were undisclosed. Scrivener said startup costs were $500, adding she leases space on a month-to-month basis with Brand, who continues to run the boutique.

“We’re seeing how the bookstore is going to do, and as we start making a profit, she and I will work out the terms for that,” Scrivener said of a long-term lease.

The Next Chapter is a first-time business ownership venture for the couple, Scrivener said, adding she is the shop’s lone employee. Aside from running the bookshop, Scrivener also is a full-time student at Missouri State University, while her husband works for the Springfield office of Omaha, Nebraska-based pest control company Presto X.

The shop currently sells only used books, but Scrivener said she plans to eventually expand to new releases. She estimated roughly 200 books are in stock, including a large children’s section and current bestsellers.

While the store plans to accept book donations or trade-ins in the near future, the inventory is currently full, Scrivener said.

“We’re actually looking for more bookshelves to put in there,” she said. “We have books stacked on every surface.”