Page & Pour served its last pour-over and paperback on July 31. The corner of Babcock and Tracy will reopen this fall as something the new owner calls an activation concept.

Owner Marlene Haskins, 71, said she tried to find a buyer for the business itself. Three prospective operators looked at the books. All three said the rent penciled only if they sold alcohol until 2 a.m. or sublet the basement to a startup incubator.

“I just wanted someone to keep the poetry section,” Haskins said. “The new owner said activation means flexible programming. I think that means yoga on Tuesdays and a DJ on Fridays.”

The building sold in March for $3.1 million to Gallatin Gateway Holdings LLC, a Wyoming LLC managed by a property manager in Austin, Texas. The previous owner, a retired orthodontist from Livingston, held it for 14 years. He raised the rent twice. Haskins said she understood. Property taxes on the building went from $18,000 to $42,000 in that time.

The space has been a bookstore since 1996. Before that it was a pharmacy. Before that a dry goods store. The original tin ceiling is still there above the drop tiles.

Gallatin Gateway Holdings did not return calls to 406-555-0187. Their leasing brochure renders the space with exposed brick, communal tables, and a wall of reclaimed ski lift chairs. The projected rent is $42 per square foot triple net.

Haskins is moving to a cabin near Norris she bought in 2004. She plans to read the 347 books she set aside for retirement. The poetry section went to the Friends of the Library book sale. It sold out in 40 minutes.