Booksellers at Laurelwood, Facebook

Book lovers, rejoice. Plans for a new book store in the old Booksellers at Laurelwood space are going forward. It will be called Novel.A lease was signed yesterday, according to Cory Prewitt, chief operating officer and marketing director of Laurelwood Shopping Center.A group of local investors, including John Vergos, stepped up in March to open the new store. The other investors are Matthew Crow, Christy Yarbro, Wilson Robbins, and Frank Jones.Novel will be roughly half the space of the 25,000-square-foot Booksellers. Prewitt says that while the layout will be different, the new store will be similar to the old store with a magazine section, a children's section, a local section, and a cafe. The CD section has been skeddadled, and the sidelines (everything but books) has been narrowed down.Prewitt also says they'll be rehiring much of the old Booksellers' staff, including longtimer Mark Frederick.Archimania will do the design, and the University of Memphis architecture department has donated its services as well.Opening date for Novel has been set for August 1st, just in time for school.Prewitt says Novel will be a smaller but upgraded version of Booksellers, a store that "our city deserves."