Chip Gaines Purchases Historic Texas Bookstore

One half of television’s most famous renovation duo is the new owner of an iconic literary landmark built by author Larry McMurtry in the hard-scrabbled town of Archer City, Texas. Residents are now wondering what Chip Gaines, who with wife Joanna built the Magnolia Network, is planning for the shop’s next chapter. Last November, Gaines quietly bought two buildings that are home to Booked Up – the bookstore that was McMurtry’s lifetime passion project in his hometown. The author of “Lonesome Dove” and “The Terms of Endearment” opened the bookstore in 1987 and over the decades it became a pilgrimage site for McMurtry fans and book lovers from around the world.