Last Friday  Fullers bookshop founder Clive Tilsley handed over the keys to the business that he started almost 14 years ago.

New owners Michael French and Ash Campbell have almost completed their first week of trading in the St John Street store.

The co-owners, who met through working together at the State library in Hobart, had been looking to start a bookstore and stumbled across Fullers.

Mr Campbell had applied for a job at the Hobart Fullers store, and out of more than 200 applicants  he was in the top 10 for the job.

When he lost out, he asked if there were any jobs going in Launceston.

‘‘Clive’s son said, jokingly, ‘Well if you want to buy a bookshop ...’ and I said, ‘Well actually ...’,’’ Mr Campbell said.

‘‘I did want to one day have my own shop –  it was a long time coming,’’ said Mr French, who has worked in bookstores in Hobart and Sydney.

From January  the new owners will slowly begin rebranding the store, and will rename it Volume 2 bookshop.

Mr Tilsley said he and wife Ros had had a ‘‘lot of fun’’ with the Launceston store, which they put on the market in April. ‘‘It was very strange, very surreal,’’ Mr Tilsley said of his last day.

The Hobart Fullers shop will continue trading.