10801-garland-road-sketch

This is the future of 10801 Garland Road, where Lucky Dogs Books sits now. Used bookstore owner John Tilton recently sold the building to Jeff Brand of Brand Capital Partners after coming to terms with the store’s financial state.

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Brand says his company will renovate the building with new landscaping, seating areas, murals by local artists on the side walls, and “a clean crisp exterior.”

“We see this as an opportunity to create a welcoming place for the community,” Brand says on his LinkedIn page, and tells us that he has “a new user we are negotiating a lease with for the entire building.” No word on who the user is but Brand says he will give us more news soon.

Meanwhile, Lucky Dog Books has not yet made enough in sales to guarantee a future in the White Rock area, Tilton says. The store is “having mostly pretty decent days” during what is usually one of the slowest times of the year, “which means people are responding” to the news of potential closure, he says. But it’s not enough money to sign a new lease and make a move, so Tilton is now hoping to find two or three “community-minded” people to band together and loan $4,000 to $5,000 each so that the store can move to a spot nearby. He’s also open to selling the Garland Road store, or all three of his stores.

In addition, he has let Oak Cliff customers know that their West Jefferson store’s future is secure “only if we can increase our day in and day out sales levels” because “the [White Rock] store has always been our strongest location, and it has been subsidizing this bookstore here in Oak Cliff ever since our move last year.”

Tilton remains optimistic, believing business will pick up, but things are “slow-going,” he says. “We’ll see what happens.”