Herbert commented: "As the 'Crossroads of the West,' Utah is the perfect place for companies in the distribution, fulfillment, and logistics industries to enjoy great success. Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon's v-p of global customer fulfillment, said, "Utah has a talented workforce, and we are very excited to grow employment beyond the more than 2,000 associates already serving customers in the state." Montague, Row, Duquès and Bellonby will all be on hand on Friday, September 6, for a "meet the new owners" celebration.Īmazon plans to open a 1.3 million-square-foot fulfillment center in West Jordan, Utah. "As academics, they understand what makes the Penn Book Center unique, but they also have the vision to make it a viable business." "Matt and Diana are the perfect people to build on the legacy of the Penn Book Center," said Ashley Montague.
They have changes in mind, including minor renovations to improve browsing and make the bookstore more of a community space, as well as a name change. Over the past few months, Bellonby and Duquès have been talking to local writers, students and university faculty about what they want to see from the bookstore. The new owners signed the lease for the storefront on August 26, and will officially take over on September 1. Penn Book Center owners Diana Bellonby and Matthew Duquesĭuquès and Bellonby, who are both academics and are married, were already in the process of moving to Philadelphia, with the intention of opening a bookstore of their own, when they heard about Penn Book Center's plight, Billy Penn reported. "We felt terrible about closing," said Michael Row, "and we are so grateful to the many people who organized to save this wonderful institution-to Penn faculty and students, to our customers, to the Penn real estate folks, and especially to Matt and Diana." Almost immediately, University of Pennsylvania faculty and students rallied around the bookstore, with English professor Chi-ming Yang launching a campaign to save it.įollowing rallies and a petition that garnered more than 5,000 signatures, UPenn, the store's landlord, extended the bookstore's lease through the summer to give Montague and Row more time to figure out ways to keep the store in business. Matt Duquès and Diana Bellonby have purchased Penn Book Center in Philadelphia, Pa., and will keep the nearly 60-year-old store open.Įarlier this year, the store's previous owners Ashley Montague and Michael Row announced that they could no longer afford to stay in business and would have to close the store at the end of the current academic year.
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