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Eagle Art and Books

After more than 30 years in business in downtown Keene, Eagle Books’ longtime owner Sylvia Felix is ready to start her next chapter. On Sunday, Felix, who will be 90 in November, worked her last day in the bookshop she opened with her late husband, Peter, in 1988. While the business is expected to remain a bookstore, it will move forward under new ownership, Felix said.

With the store a fixture near the corner of West Street and Central Square, Felix said Eagle Books customers are sad to see her go, but that they understand her decision to step down.

“They’re not happy,” she said. “But you can’t go forever, and I don’t want to leave too much of a mess for my children.”

Felix has four children — three sons and a daughter who no longer live in the area — who she said have all helped out at the store over the years. “I couldn’t have done it without them,” she added.

After her kids were grown and had gone off to college, Felix decided she wanted to pick up a job, and she found work at another bookstore where she said she primarily dealt with used and antique books. She enjoyed the job so much, she and her husband decided to go into the book business for themselves.

She sold similar types of books during her years at Eagle Books, where much of her stock consisted of local history books and some classic fiction — “like Dickens,” she said. She added that some of the books in the store are from as early as the 1800s.

“I’ve never come in here when I didn’t find something unexpected to take home,” said Michael Price, a retired librarian and occasional patron of Eagle Books who stopped in on Sunday.

Felix said she enjoyed working with her customers over the years, and that they’ve always been grateful her store has stayed open when other bookshops in the area have closed. She said the advent of the Internet and online book sales created a bit of a challenge, but Eagle Books was able to survive the changing market. And, she added, there’s still a demand for physical copies of books. “I enjoy when the customers come in,” she said. “And they always say, ‘I’m so glad you’re still here’.”

Despite challenges over the years, including the COVID-19 pandemic that forced her to limit the shop’s hours, Felix kept things going. But now she’s looking forward to enjoying her retirement.

She’ll be moving to a senior community in Dover where she said she plans to play mahjong and bridge, and attend exercise classes. There’s also a small library there, where Felix said she may offer her services, or she might see if the local public library needs any volunteers.

“I don’t think I’m going to be bored,” she said.

Mia Summerson