Chapter and verse: Morris is coming back
Do you remember Morris Book Shop?
If so, you must have been in Lexington between 1935 and 1978, when owner Joseph Houlihan closed the store at 224 East Main Street after losing the lease.
The store provided stellar customer service and propelled Houlihan to two terms as president of the American Booksellers Association.
Thirty years later, another Morris Book Shop is on track to open in May in a retail center at 408 Southland Drive.
The owner is Wyn Morris, who is not related to Jimmy Morris, founder of the original store. Wyn Morris learned the book business at Joseph-Beth Booksellers and University Press of Kentucky.
But the manager of the new store, Hap Houlihan, is related to Joseph Houlihan, so the link to the past is more than just a name.
Wyn Morris told the newsletter Shelf Awareness that he had thought about opening a bookstore, but it took the deaths of his father and stepmother in the crash of Comair Flight 5191 to spur him into action.
He realized, Morris said, “that anything can happen at any time, and enough talking about what I’d like to do someday and let’s do it.”
