of having his own bookstore when he opens The Last Word Bookstore, on Friday, May 27, in the Fort Worth, Texas, neighborhood of Near Southside.

 

"I've wanted to have a bookstore since I was six or seven years old. That was the first time I really remember my mom taking me to one," said Combs. "But then life intervened and that never really came about."

 

Combs' job at an oncology management company was recently outsourced to India, "so I was basically faced with starting over at age 50, either looking for a job in an industry I wasn't really crazy about, or taking my severance and starting over," he said.

 

With that, Combs made the decision to open his own general interest bookstore, and hasn't looked back since. In December 2015, after he learned of his job's outsourcing, Combs launched a GoFundMe online campaign to raise money to cover start-up costs. The campaign, which offered contributors lifetime discounts ranging from five percent off for a donation of $25 to $99 to 25 percent off for donations of $5,000 and above, raised more than $9,000 in five months.

 

Though the process of rushing to open the store has been stressful, Combs said he wouldn't trade it for anything.