After planning to close last year, Stella Pixton has announced that Jurby Junk and its bookstore will close after this year’s Festival of Motorcycling.

It appeared to everyone that Jurby Junk would soon be gone forever last year.

However, Stella decided to stay open to make selling some of the more valuable items in her possession easier.

Now, with help from her friends such as Penny McDonough and her husband Jim who live in Ramsey, Stella is preparing to shut up shop and move on to new things.

Penny, who now helps Stella said: ’It’s not a retirement, Stella says the cost of running the business is too high.

’She’s planning finishing her second book and enjoying her art too.’

closure

In the coming days, Stella is due to have meetings with representatives from the government to organise the closure of the store and has chosen her closing date, which is September 1, day after the conclusion of the 2018 Festival of Motorcycling on Friday, August 31.

Stella said she only thank the government, which owns the premises from which she operates, for its help in creating the plans.

Penny added: ’I just want to help Stella achieve her goal now, a good ending with closure.

’Even if she can’t sell as much as she’d like to, she’ll be able to walk away happy with what she had done.

’In the whole time she’s been here, she’s bought, stocked, priced and sold it all herself.

’Jurby Junk and the bookshop are still going and there are some real gems in there.’

The book store has attracted interest from potential buyers and collectors in the UK due to the rare nature of some of the books available.

Penny said her husband Jim hasd worked to catalogue the fiction books for Stella, but the 6,000 books he did is only a small percentage of the books there.

However, that has made it easier to attract interest from off the island as book buyers have an easier time of knowing what is available and where to find it.

Penny added: ’The TT has been really good for Stella. You can see yourself the visitors are rolling in and she wants to keep that going during the Festival of Motorcycling later in the year.

’I actually only met her last year. I heard about her closing Jurby Junk and I wanted to come down and got talking to her.

’So we got to know her and her friends, she’s got some incredible friends.’

Jurby Junk and the adjoining book shop is open everyday between now and the end of the Festival of Motorcycling.