Roughly a month after RiverRun Bookstore owner Tom Holbrook announced the business was in danger of closing, the store appears to be saved. Holbrook recently announced RiverRun will remain open in downtown Portsmouth in the New Year—but with a couple of important changes.

Holbrook has signed a lease on a space at 142 Fleet St., former site of Rock Bottom Records. The new location is right around the corner from RiverRun’s current space on Congress Street. The move will take place sometime in January, Holbrook said, and he’ll be seeking a volunteer “book brigade” to help out.

The store will now be owned by a group of 15 community members who stepped forward to invest in the business over the last month.

RiverRun opened nearly 10 years ago on Commercial Alley and moved to the larger space on Congress Street in 2006. But the downturn in the economy and growing competition from digital books, combined with high rent on the prominent downtown space, made it difficult for the business to turn a profit.

Holbrook announced in November that he would not be renewing his lease at the end of the year and that, if he did not come up with an alternative plan, the store would close permanently. He held a meeting on Nov. 9 to outline the challenges and collect public feedback from the 150-plus attendees.

Since then, Holbrook has received an outpouring of support, culminating in his Dec. 9 announcement that the store had been saved.