Penguin Bookshop Up for Sale in Sewickley

The owners of the Penguin Bookshop recently announced the independent bookstore, located in the core of the Sewickley Village, is for sale.

Owner Janet McDanel said she is ready to retire and spend more time with her husband, Bud McDanel, both of whom are in their 70s.

The couple, who have invested more than $1 million in the store, plan to travel and spend time with friends and family.

“Of course, I will have a lot more time to read without the responsibility of owning the store,” said McDanel, who announced plans to sell during a June 15 staff meeting.

The Penguin Bookshop has long been a gathering place for the Sewickley community.  In 1929, two socialites opened a bookshop on Chestnut Street and named it after their favorite book, “Penguin Island.” 

The store then moved to a former cigar shop on Beaver Street. Ten years later, the shop was sold for $1 to a couple who ran it for the next 40 years.

In 1981, the shop was sold to another couple that bought the current property on Beaver Street, a building that was constructed in 1915. The store changed hands again in 1987, when a staff member, Margaret Marshall, and her beloved cat became the new faces of Penguin.

When Marshall was ready to retire in 2007, the store was put up for sale again, but the building had suffered from deferred maintenance.

To the rescue came the McDanels, who invested more than $1 million dollars to not only restore the bookshop, but also to make it the first “green” building in Sewickley. The bookstore is LEED--Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design--certified.

“When Margaret Marshall said that she was giving up the store after her 20-year tenure as owner, we couldn’t imagine Sewickley without the Penguin Bookshop,” Janet McDanel said.

“We knew that the building was in need of major repair and renovation, and believed that best way to ensure the store’s future was to invest in an environmentally-sustainable building.”

Last year, according to Florida-based Paz & Associates, an independent bookstore training and consulting company overseeing the bookshop sale, Penguin sold more than $500,000 in books, stationery, calendars and gift items.

Mark Kaufman of Paz & Associates said that is "really, really something" with a borough population of only 4,000 people. 

"It says a lot about how beloved the store is in the community," Kaufman said. 

Since making the announcement, Kaufman said there have been a couple of inquiries from interested parties. He said what the store needs most is the presence of a full-time owner with the resources to acquire the business and keep it going strong for another 80 years. 

The McDanels hope to hand the reins over to an avid reader and genuine book lover, someone willing to preserve Penguin Bookshop’s long-standing history.

“The key ingredients are all in place,” McDanel said,  “a loyal customer base, a dedicated, hard-working staff and a beautiful setting. We have a wonderful staff of readers and booksellers with expertise, genuine friendliness, and a desire to connect people with good books.”

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