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Explore party open to all supporters

Staff report

A celebration to meet the new owner of Explore Booksellers and his team will be held at Explore from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Doug Phelps, the principal of the limited-liability corporation that bought the bookstore, will be at the party with members of his team. The investment arm of nonprofit organizations under the umbrella of the Public Interst Network purchased the bookstore in January and vowed to preserve it.

The party will be open to all “devotees and supporters” of Explore, according to Bill Stirling, a founder of the Save Explore Committee. Stirling was quoted as saying in an article in the Aspen Times on Wednesday that the party was open by invitation only. He clarified his statement Wednesday by saying the main way the committee was getting the word out was through invitation, but all supporters of the iconic bookstore are invited.