New owners of Burien’s Page 2 Books put the focus on booksellers

In her decadelong tenure as owner of Burien’s Page 2 Books, Jenny Cole has re-imagined the bookstore from the ground up. She transitioned it from the used bookstore it had been since its founding in 1989 to a mix of new and used books, and fostered a vibrant book club program.

But when longtime customer Stephen Feldman mentioned to Cole that he’d fantasized about owning a bookstore, Cole recalls, “I said, ‘Well, you can just buy everything here and it’s yours.’” The offer surprised Feldman and, to some extent, Cole herself: She’d been thinking about selling Page 2, but hadn’t seriously pursued any potential buyers.

Feldman jokes that he brought the prospect of buying Page 2 home to his wife, Kathy Knowlton, “with the expectation that she would say, ‘What, are you crazy?’”

Knowlton confirms that in their marriage, “I’m in charge of throwing the cold water” on Feldman’s big ideas. But when she heard the concept of buying her beloved neighborhood bookstore, “I never threw it,” she laughs.

Feldman and Knowlton, who have no previous bookselling experience, brought one ironclad condition to the negotiation process: “One of the things that attracted us to the place are the people,” Knowlton says. “The staff are a treasure, and we aren’t really in a position to run it day-to-day.”

Early in the process of buying the bookstore, Feldman told Anna Griffiths, who has been manager at Page 2 for the past year, “If you don’t come with it, we’re not buying it. And she said, ‘I’m here.’”

Griffiths has developed Page 2’s staff recommendations program, bringing more personality and enthusiasm to the store’s shelves. Knowlton praises Griffiths and the rest of the staff for knowing customers’ names when they walk in the door — “and the customers’ dogs’ names, which is very important.” 

All five of Page 2’s booksellers stayed on when ownership transitioned from Cole to Knowlton and Feldman over Easter weekend, and Griffiths says the staff is excited. “You can feel the joy of selling books in these people,” she says.

Customers shouldn’t expect too many big changes. In the future, Page 2 might explore some of Griffith’s bigger ideas, like a “Page 2 Go Books” van that could bring the store on the road to community events. But for now, the store is carrying on with one major edict in mind: “The people who work here make the difference,” Feldman says. “Otherwise, it’s just another bookstore.”