BANGOR — A bookstore chain that’s been a fixture in Maine for 50 years is going out of business.

Mr. Paperback’s 80 employees will be laid off when its 10 stores close by the end of April. The stores are located in Augusta, Bangor, Belfast, Caribou, Dover-Foxcroft, Ellsworth, Farmington, Presque Isle, Waterville and Skowhegan.

Co-owner Penny Robichaud told the Bangor Daily News  that consumers aren’t buying printed materials as much as they used to with the Internet and the growth of e-books.

She said the chain’s sister magazine and newspaper distribution company, Magazines Inc., is being bought out by Hudson LLC, based in Worcester, Mass.

Magazine Inc.’s 40 employees are also being laid off.

 


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