Popular contract station remains closed
By Nick Norlen
Staff Writer
Chestnut Tree Books is gone from the Princeton Shopping Center, but the owner of the bookstore taking its place hopes to start a new chapter for the post office located in the space.
Deb Hunter, owner of the newly opened Chicklet Books, said she has decided to keep the post office and is working with the U.S. Postal Service to reopen the substation.
Because the post office is a contract station — run by the storeowner, not postal employees — reopening it will require transferring the contract from previous owner Ira Kaye.
”Apparently that’s a big to do,” Ms. Hunter said. “That said, the post office is working very hard.”
She said postal officials are attempting to “grandfather” the contract so that it applies to her, rather than pursuing a required background check.
That could shorten the process to as little as three to four weeks, rather than six months, she said.
Once the contract is transferred, store employees will be given 30 hours of training over one week, after which a postal employee will supervise the operation for another week.
Although she said she doesn’t expect its presence to equate to book sales, Ms. Hunter said she thinks keeping the post office is worthwhile.
”We’re an independent store and we’re here for the community,” she said. “The customers that have been coming in all week long — they’re very distraught. They’ve all bent my ear on the post office. We know it’s an issue and we’re here for the community.”
The Princeton Shopping Center location, which opened Aug. 14, is the second for the Hillsborough-based Chicklet Books.
Ms. Hunter said the “fun, funky, clean, safe” store will have a full-scale book selection on its ground floor, with Chestnut Tree’s discount inventory remaining on the lower level until the space is renovated in January.
”We’re a little different and offbeat,” she said. “Yes, we special order. Yes, we like to talk about books.”
Ms. Hunter said she plans to host open mic nights and book clubs, and is working with Small World Coffee and local bakeries to provide goods for the store’s café.
The store is currently open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Ms. Hunter said earlier hours will be available to accommodate customers once the post office is back up and running.

