BRUNSWICK

Twice-Told Tales, a used book store that supports Curtis Memorial Library, celebrated its one-year anniversary recently with a buy-one-get-one free sale and a festive display of refreshments.

The tiny space at 11 Pleasant St. was busier than usual during the event, with a dozen customers perusing its shelves at any given moment. Regulars burst through the doors, jokingly asking if there would be any Merlot to go with the cookies. First-time shoppers happily plopped down thick stacks of future summer reading on the check-out desk.

The store is run by Friends of Curtis Memorial Library and was born out of necessity.

During the Spring of 2015, the Friends had a weighty problem on their hands –– enough donated books, music and audiobooks to fill an entire warehouse, with no feasible way to continue storing them.

These donated materials would accumulate over time for eventual sale at the library’s annual three-day long book sale.

“We had the biggest book sale in New England,” said Friends President Judith Redwine.

It has been reported that sales consistently grossed $40,000 and were enormously popular in and beyond the Brunswick community.

When the storage location they were using became unavailable, the Friends had to make a decision.

“We figured if we were going to have to pay for warehouse space, we might as well pay for shop front space,” said Redwine.

In addition to solving the storage issue, a storefront property would allow the library to offer used books for sale year-round.

According to Friends Vice President Barbara Burr, another major factor was the huge amount of physical labor that the three-day sale demanded, especially for the library’s aging volunteer force.

“Eighty thousand books to move around is a huge task, and that was getting really difficult for people,” said Burr.

The board ultimately decided in favor of a permanent store, and only six days after the library’s final book sale in 2015, Twice-Told Tales opened its doors.

“It’s an advantage to be able to offer our books to the community all year round, and though it took awhile, the community is seeing it as an advantage too,” said Redwine.

Now a year into operation, what begun as a far-fetched proposal has turned into a successful small business. According to Redwine, the store reached it’s projected financial goal for their first year, a notable achievement when considering it is entirely dependent upon donated funds, merchandise, and a corps of about 100 dedicated volunteers.

The books come in, sometimes by the cartload, and the group is tasked with determining what is sellable, organizing them by condition and setting aside the books that are either duplicates or not up to store standards. The remaining items are re-donated to local nonprofits such as the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program, sold to online book collectors or distributed to dealers that sell the books online and return a modest percentage of the proceeds to the library.

Jennifer Ciejka, a Twice- Told Tales patron and member of the Friends board, is also a member of the team of volunteers that organizes recent acquisitions in the book store’s sorting room.

“In one book we found all the pages were glued together and the middle had been hollowed out for a secret bank,” Ciejka said.

When asked what keeps her coming back to the store, Ciejka narrowed it down to her love for the group of amicable, hardworking volunteers that serve as the lifeblood of the operation, as well as her interest in the selection at Twice Told Tales.

“I buy books often,” Ciejka said. “It seems as if every time I come in, I find something that interests me.”

This sentiment holds true across a tightly knit network of people that keep Twice Told Tales running, and its loyal volunteers and customers hope its doors will remain open for many more.