On October 6th, Ferguson Books & More announced that it will be closing its Grand Forks store. Ferguson’s has been a part of the Grand Forks community for thirteen years and to many this closing has come as a shock. In the Instagram post announcing the closure, owner Dane Fergusons wrote, “13 years ago my wife and I took a MASSIVE risk. When all the bookstores in Grand Forks were closing, we decided to take a chance and do things a little differently. After opening 3 different store locations in Grand Forks, and going into 4 different city locations, with many more pop-ups all over the Midwest, Grand Forks was always our homebase and was considered our flagship store. The tie has come to pass the torch to people I trust and admire who’ve been with us through thick and thin. Ferguson Books will continue to operate in West Fargo and Bismarck as is, but starting next month look forward to a NEW store!”
Ferguson goes on to praise the work ethic and commitment of Sterling Reed and Patricia Reed, a mother and son duo, who have been a part of the Grand Forks community for decades and will be the owners of Silver Dawn Books. Silver Dawn books is planning on opening their doors in early November and will be located in the Grand Cities Mall next to Ace Hardware. While this is a different and smaller location than Ferguson Books & More, the set up already looks very promising.
I had the chance to talk to Sterling about what he was most excited for and some of the challenges that come with opening a bookstore after managing Ferguson Books for so many years.
“I’m most exited to implement my own stock ideas that I couldn’t do before,” he said. “While I haven’t been running my own store quite yet, I will say that learning the business end of things hasn’t been the easiest, but it’s been manageable.”
Sterling also expressed that he is particularly excited to expand the horror section. This expansion will start primarily with new horror books, but of course as a new and used bookstore the dream is to have equal amounts of new and used stock for each section. On top of this, he will be trying to appeal more to college kids by carrying novels that are often used in classes, especially new Penguin classics.
Silver Dawn books will be ushering in a new era of bookstores in Grand Forks. I have no doubt that this store will be a success and a community literary hub. Look forward to the opening of Silver Dawn sometime in early November.
Aubrey Roemmich is a Dakota Student Section Editor. She can be reached at [email protected].
