Moravian University President Bryon Grigsby ’90 P’22, P’26, P’29 speaks during a ribbon cutting ceremony at Moravian Book Shop on Wednesday. Photo by Nick Chismar
The world’s oldest continuously operating bookstore turned a page Wednesday morning, celebrating its 281-year history with a grand reopening and ribbon-cutting ceremony marking its transition to new management.
In partnership with Moravian University, the Moravian Book Shop, located at 428 Main Street in Bethlehem, is now working with ANC Consulting, a New York–based campus bookstore operating company.
“Starting today, the shop will look a little different,” Moravian University President Bryon Grigsby ’90, P’22, P’26, P’29 told a crowd gathered at the store. He was joined by Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds, members of the Bethlehem Area Chamber of Commerce, and Moravian University mascot Amos the Greyhound.
Barnes & Noble College took over management of the shop in 2018, when it was losing money, and helped turn it around, ensuring that it remained a fixture of Historic Downtown Bethlehem, Grigsby said. But the bookstore’s role has evolved since 2024, when Bethlehem’s Moravian Church Settlements were designated part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Today, the shop serves not only students and alumni but also tourists and visitors exploring Bethlehem’s World Heritage site.
University leaders hope the change in management will bring an even stronger community focus to the bookstore, including a wider selection of merchandise from local craftspeople, writers, and poets.
The shop also will feature merchandise connected to the three other historic Moravian settlements that make up the transnational World Heritage site: Christiansfeld, Denmark; Gracehill, Northern Ireland; and Herrnhut, Germany.
The Moravian Book Shop traces its origins to 1745, when the Moravian Church appointed Samuel Powell, who operated the Church’s Crown Inn, to run a bookstore. After operating from several locations, the shop moved in 1871 to the church’s publications building near Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem, where it remains today.
“That’s the assignment for this next chapter: a shop that serves a Moravian University freshman buying their first book and a visitor from Saxony, Germany, buying a Moravian star to take home under the same roof on the same Main Street where Samuel Powell started all of this in 1745,” Grigsby said. —Christina Tatu
