Ocean City won’t be losing the book store
OCEAN CITY — The owners of Sun Rose Words & Music on Asbury Avenue are selling their building to one of the biggest property owners in Ocean City, but don’t despair, avid readers, a book store will remain part of the new business.
Rosalyn Lifshin, who has co-owned Sun Rose since 1997 with Nancy Miller, said on Monday they have a tentative agreement with brothers Raj and Yogi Khatiwala of Eclat Investments.
Eclat Investments has substantial holdings in Ocean City, including near Sun Rose, which has been at 756 Asbury Ave. since about 2002.
Elcat, run by the brothers, includes the former Crown Bank Building at 801 Asbury, now The Shoppes at Asbury, catty-corner to Sun Rose, and Stainton’s, A Gallery of Shops, on the same block across the street at 810 Asbury Ave. Raj Khatiwala confirmed the planned sale Monday afternoon.
Lifshin said the timing is right for her and Miller even though they didn’t have the building up for sale.
“They approached us with a really good price and at my age, I just couldn’t resist it. It was time,” she said, noting she is unsure what the future is going to hold. Lifshin and Miller have been semi-retired, working in Ocean City’s bookstore about two days a week, but still doing all the ordering for the store.
Lifshin said the new owners, who will take over some time in the new year, plan to operate it similar to Stainton’s, which has numerous shops in one space. The Sun Rose building will continue to include books.
“I said this is the time to do it and plus, it’s going to be like a little Stainton’s in here. It will be ourselves, someone who does cards and someone who does other things,” Lifshin said. “We’re able to keep going. We won’t have the selection we have now, but we’ll be able to sell the best-sellers and more. It should be pretty much most of the books we sell, but if not, we’ll still be selling books. That was the really good thing about it.”
Because of the way a Stainton’s is set up, the two others won’t have to be there all the time and have their own employees.
“It works out for everybody,” she said.
Lifshin said they’ve been running the book store since taking it over in 1997 at its original location on Sixth Street. Sun Rose has been in Ocean City since 1973.
Lifshin and Miller have run the store while other bookstores in Ocean City have gone out of business, including Atlantic Books on the boardwalk, and survived when Superstorm Sandy swamped the store in 2012.
She noted from a business standpoint, things have “never been better since probably when we bought it. Our summers have gotten better than they ever were, which is why it was a difficult decision.”
Lifshin said they are not ready to retire fully.
“I’m healthy, I’m doing great. Now we’ll be even more retired, but we’ll still work on filling our area. I couldn’t ask for a better situation. I really couldn’t. I’m so happy. I was still not ready to do nothing.”
Book sales this
weekend, next
Sun Rose is having a 30 percent off sale this weekend for Ocean City’s Winterfest.
“We’re doing an earlier than the Earlier Than the Bird sale,” which is the Saturday before Thanksgiving as Ocean City businesses open early in the morning and crowds of shoppers, many clad in pajamas, come for bargains.
The sale is 30 percent off Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 16 and 17, and at Earlier Than the Bird Nov. 23, Sun Rose books are 40 percent off from 7 to 10 a.m. and 30 percent off after 10 a.m. Lifshin noted the business is cash-only sales for the big sale days.
Other holdings
Other Eclat Investment holdings in Ocean City include Stainton’s, A Gallery of Shops on Asbury Avenue; Stainton’s Gallery by the Sea at 1216 Boardwalk; The Scarbough Inn, 720 Ocean Ave.; The Forum hotel, 800 Atlantic Ave.; The Atlantic hotel, 801 Atlantic Ave.; Tahiti Inn, 1125 Ocean Ave.; The Surf Club, 811 Atlantic Ave.; The Beach House, 819 Moorlyn Terrace; and 801 Condos at 801 Wesley Ave.
The brothers are leasing space in the Crown Bank building to the city for the next two years while the Public Safety Building on Central Avenue is renovated and expanded, and recently sold two parking lots on Central Avenue across from the police station to the city for $3.3 million.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff