Metuchen bookstore to reopen in place of Variety Village

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To Be Continued, a bookstore in Metuchen, will reopen on April 1.

(Courtesy To Be Continued)

METUCHEN – To Be Continued, a Main Street bookstore that closed up shop at the end of January because of rising rents, will open again in place of the Variety Village.

Sergio Gonzalez and Karen Winters bought out the owner of the convenience store, which was struggling to stay afloat after 30 years on the corner of Main Street and Hillside Avenue in downtown Metuchen. In a few weeks, To Be Continued will return.

"The amount of support from the community has been incredible," Gonzalez said.

The fate of To Be Continued was a major source of consternation for people worried about the future of downtown Metuchen in particular and of a well read, community-minded society in general. Some residents of Metuchen have criticized landlords for shoddy upkeep and rising rents, and many shopkeepers complain that onerous regulations from Borough Hall only add to the challenges in owning a small business.

The renaissance of the bookstore was only possible because its closure galvanized the community. It was like something out of a Frank Capra movie. In late February, with only a few days before they had to close on the deal, Gonzalez and Winters were $25,000 short on their purchase price for the storefront and all its contents. They put out a request for no-interest loans, not from banks, but from friends and loyal To Be Continued customers who live in Metuchen. Within 48 hours, they had enough to make the sale.

"I think that shows that people really wanted the bookstore to come back," said Robin Diamond. "I was just, like, shocked. As I think many people were. We had hoped it would come back, but not this soon, and I had no idea about that space."

Eventually, the Variety Village sign out front will come down, and the store will be rechristened. To Be Continued will continue after all. Gonzalez and Winters will keep a Variety Village sign in the store, as a nod to the store's past.

For now, they're looking to clear out the Variety Village's inventory. They're open for business, in a sort of transition phase – getting rid of the lotto scratchies and cigarettes, putting a fresh coat of white paint on the front door. A seemingly random assortment of cleaning supplies, personal hygiene products, snack food and kid-toy tchotchkes are lined up in discrete rows or sitting in piles in the basement: Plush teddy bears dressed in Navy garb. VHS cleaners. Wet wipes. School supplies. Christmas ornament hooks.

Gonzalez and Winters hope to have To Be Continued up and running as a bookstore by April 1, a timeframe that Winters acknowledged is ambitious. It wasn't an easy decision to make, Winters said.

"If it hadn't been for the community outcry, it would have been much more difficult," Winters said.

Like at its former location across the corner, To Be Continued will offer community space for concerts and readings, an area dedicated to local vendors, and, of course, books (the literary inventory will have to be restocked, but they kept the bookshelf fixtures, arranged "like Tetris" in their garage, Gonzalez said). They'll also renovate the basement to create a play area for kids, where they hope to host birthday parties, if town regulations aren't a problem (part of the reason they bought out Variety Village instead of starting a new storefront was because they didn't want to have to deal with the red tape).

The reactions from loyal customers have been overwhelmingly positive, Gonzalez said, but there are also the questions. Whether, for instance, they are crazy. Or whether it's an April Fools joke. Maybe, and no, they said. The business plan will change, and rents are lower at the new location. Some vestiges of the Variety Village will remain: Kids will be able to come in and buy snacks in a convenience corner, after browsing the collection of vinyl records. To Be Continued and the Variety Village were both about breaking even, Gonzalez said; with the focus of To Be Continued and the remnants of Variety Village, there's hope for the future of books in Metuchen.

In the end, the customers – residents of Metuchen and the surrounding towns – will decide the store's fate. Signs are positive so far. In February, after To Be Continued had closed but before it had reopened, a borough resident launched a Facebook page to highlight concerns about downtown.

"If they want it," Winters said, "they have to support it."

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