Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Russell Chisholm (top, left, and below), owner of Easy Chair Coffee Shop and bookstore, talks with Paulley Straith about lighting needs in what was the Sickle Moon retail space of University Mall in Blacksburg.

BLACKSBURG -- At its current location, the large glass windows of the Easy Chair Bookstore frame downtown Blacksburg's daily to-and-fro.

Beyond the bookshelves and postcard racks, pedestrians stroll the sidewalks and cars brake at the intersection of South Main and Roanoke streets.

But by spring, a different stream of traffic will pass the Easy Chair's windows.

After more than two years at 101 S. Main St., the bookstore will pack up its tomes and move them about a mile and a half away to University Mall.

Looking to join sister business, the Easy Chair Coffee Shop, the bookstore will occupy the retail space once home to the Sickle Moon.

There, the passersby are more likely to be students on their way to the Math Emporium or gym-goers en route to Blacksburg Health and Fitness at the Weight Club.

While business co-owner Russell Chisholm said he isn't crazy about the idea of moving out of downtown, the move offers the opportunity to combine both his businesses under one roof.

"We're going to try and connect them so our customers can go back and forth between the cafe and bookstore," Chisholm said of the work he hopes to complete by the end of February.

"Now that the bookstore has two years under its belt and is now supporting itself, we'd kind of like to add the cafe environment to the mix and see if the two businesses can't energize each other."

The bookstore-cafe concept is one Chisholm has had in mind for years.

In fact, when the Easy Chair Bookstore first opened, it did so with the intention of eventually housing a cafe.

That never happened, and Chisholm said Sickle Moon's closing in April gave him and his partner the perfect opportunity to finally make good on their promise.

"It's exciting for our customers," Chisholm said. "And it's a model that's definitely worked in other markets."

Far from the isolation of Internet purchases, the bookstore-cafe would be a place with a community atmosphere, Chisholm said -- a space where you could bump into your neighbor, meet a book club or browse with friends.

That's just the kind of environment that appeals to Blacksburg resident Nikol Alexander-Floyd, already a patron of both the Easy Chair Bookstore and Coffee Shop.

"I would probably go to a coffee shop and bookstore more often," she said while browsing the bookstore's shelves Saturday. "I think they go together because I think what people want more than anything is an experience."

In addition to creating that experience, the move to University Mall may also help the bookstore capture new clients.

Employee Chris Caldwell said the shop's customers are now mostly university employees and other locals. University Mall is known as more of a student destination.

"The bus drops hundreds of potential customers at my door each day," Chisholm said of the Virginia Tech students who visit the shopping center each day when school is in session.

The Easy Chair Bookstore is not the only new business expected to join the mall in the next few months. Work is now underway to add 24,000 square feet of retail and office space along the face of the Math Emporium.

Bill Ellenbogen, who is expanding the mall along with partner Bill Sterrett and in cooperation with the Virginia Tech Foundation, said some of that space has been leased to Quizno's, Replay Games and Webmail.us.

"There just seems to be very positive momentum at University Mall," Chisholm said of the expansion work. "And it doesn't hurt that through the coffee shop, we've been here for 11 years, so we know what this location is capable of."

And, while Chisholm said he expects to continue to see progress downtown as well, the move just makes good business sense.

It will likely be a blow for the bookstore's current neighborhood.

"I was very, very said," Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg Executive Director Gwynn Hamilton said of the news. "I think independent booksellers are the type of retailer that every downtown wants, and it's definitely a loss."

"We want to see ourselves as well-read and educated and the kind of community that can support a bookseller," she added.

Despite the loss, Hamilton said she is "thrilled it doesn't mean a closing" and hopes another entrepreneur will snatch the store's corner location up quickly.

Bookstore customer Penelope Eisenbies said she too will be sad to see Easy Chair leave downtown, but that won't stop her from taking her book-buying to the new location.

"You want to support independent bookstores so they stay in town," Eisenbies said. "I mean, Barnes & Noble is nice and Amazon is convenient, but there's something to be said for independent bookstores -- I think they give a town a lot more character."