Paul Stafford walked into the William James Bookseller the day before owner Jim Catley was set to sell the famous downtown used bookstore to someone else.

Stafford had just heard from his mother, Kathy Stafford, about the store at 829 Water St. being for sale and he was interested.

Catley had been ready to sell, move on, or just close shop. With lots of talkers but no takers since April, Catley was thrilled suddenly to have two prospective buyers. He planned to meet with the first one before talking with Stafford.

“Paul was my security blanket,” said Catley last Thursday, recalling how he met with the unnamed potential buyer and concluded that first person didn’t have adequate funding to buy the store.

But Stafford, a 1985 graduate of Port Townsend High School who has been in the information technology business and has quit his day job in IT with Jefferson Healthcare Hospital, not only had the money, but had been dreaming of owning a bookstore and was ready to move from digital world into the book world.

“It’s been a lifelong dream,” said Stafford Nov. 29, the day before a deal between him and Catley was finalized. “My wife and I have been talking about owning a bookstore for over 20 years.”

The sale – the price was not disclosed – is not only a dream come true for Stafford and wife Michelle Peters, it works for Catley, who will stay on to help Stafford transition into the job. It works for employee Monica leRoux, who will keep her job, a job she’s had for the last six years. It works for employee Bethany Patten.

And it works for bookstore enthusiasts like Candace Cosner, who will have a place to sell and buy books, which she was doing last Thursday when she got the news.

“This is wonderful news,” Cosner said.

Other bookstore regulars milled around the store, hugged Catley and shook Stafford’s hand, wishing him well.

Building owner Kris Nelson also reduced the rent by $700 a month, Catley said, which means Stafford plans to stay in the building that also houses Nelson’s famous Siren’s Pub upstairs.

“For six months I had to kind of adjust my thinking that I was going to be tearing this down and gutting out,” Catley said of worrying earlier this year that he would have to shutter a business he built, shelf by shelf, year after year for more than 20 years.

“It’s just wonderful to think that the community is going to have this not be destroyed. I feel very confident that Paul’s going to take over and do a good job. I’m very pleased,” said Catley.

Stafford also was overcome with delight.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” Stafford said, standing in the cold with Catley to have his photograph taken as the new owner. “I’m happy for myself and the whole community. And just the response we’ve gotten from people in the community over the last week or so has been amazing. People come in the door and cry with joy when they hear the news.”

Stafford’s wife, Michelle, is a teacher at Swan School and while she won’t quit that job, she will be part of the bookstore, Stafford said, adding that he hopes his 14-year-old daughter, Helena, also will start working weekends at the store.

As for the store’s future in the world of e-everything, Stafford says, “I think there will always be a place for physical books regardless of what technology brings.”

Although he still had one more day of work at Jefferson Healthcare, Stafford was already starting to learn last Thursday how to buy books. Catley made it look easy, quickly going through a stack of books that someone brought in, pulling a handful out he would be interested in keeping, handing back the rest to the owner to decide whether to take them back or put them out in the free book bins that are outside the store.

The store will resume its policy of offering credit or cash to people in exchange for books they are no longer interested in keeping.

And since Stafford is more tech savvy, the store also will be able to take credit cards, something it has done, but not with much enthusiasm, in the past.

A little history

The bookstore is in the Bartlett Building, which was built in 1881 and was the largest structure in town that year, according to historical documents. It cost $50,000 – the equivalent of $1,136,000 today – to build.

It has been a general merchandise store as well as Bartlett’s, a men’s clothing emporium, as well as the Globe Clothing Store and Olberg’s Shoe Store.