As most of you know by now, Paperbacks Plus in the Lakewood area of East Dallas had to move out of its building at 6115 La Vista by the end of January. We'd like to make it clear that this was because we sold this building to the new owners and NOT because they bought it from someone else and then kicked us out.

We are very sad to have to leave what has been a wonderfully supportive and interesting neighborhood for so many years. (This year would have completed 36 years since the store on Abrams Road opened in 1976.)

We have talked to many real estate folks in the area and cannot find a suitable size space that we think is affordable and practical.

We would like to return to this immediate area at some time in the future when real estate conditions allow. If anyone thinks that they may be able to be helpful in this regard and would like to discuss what it would take for things to work for us to come back, we would welcome the involvement.

As you can see from the accompanying article, we are opening another location at 10801 Garland Road, 75218 under our long time web name of Lucky Dog Books that will be our nearest location to many of you for now. You will be able to reach it by phone using our existing phone number of 214-827-4860.

The store credit files have been transferred to the Garland Raod location so that there is no problem using it at either this new store or the existing store in Downtown Mesquite.

As we boxed up the La Vista store, we allowed folks to browse what was not packed yet as long as we could with the boxing starting in the rear corners and working forward.

And for those of you didn't happen by on the last day or two, we had our largest ever offerings of free books and the like. Over the last night, we finished putting stuff out at about 3am covering the sidewalks on both sides of the building in their entirity. On the La Vista side the rows were 5-6 deep and the heap of video tapes beside the front door was almost waist high at its center. As predicted, they were all gone within a couple of days.

We'd also like to acknowledge and thank those of you who called the city on our behalf when a code compliance fellow happened to get a "bogus" complaint about the free offerings and tagged us for about 18 hours before returning to politely ask if we would mind if her removed the "eyesore" (his word) that his notice of violation now represented in his opinion. He said that he got at least 6 calls and that his boss confirmed that he should heed the neighbors calling to say "leave them alone".

I felt sorry for him because the original "complaint" was actually just a mis-understanding so that there never was a real "complaint" to trigger his involvement. He was so gracious and good-humored about reversing course, he deserved a couple of gold stars.

We have signed a lease for a third location in North Oak Cliff, also as Lucky Dog Books, at 633 W. Davis Street, 75208. The phone number will be 214-823-7451. We hope to be open by April 1st even if everything isn't quite on the shelves yet.

For more timely updates, please check our Paperbacks Plus page on Facebook.