CAMDEN – Paul Lerner believes the Owl & Turtle bookstore is a cultural institution in town.

For 33 years, the store has operated on Bayview Street. The current version is much as it’s always been, Lerner said, striking a balance between bright displays of coffee table volumes and shelves upon shelves of more obscure titles.

Lerner has owned the business for almost five years.

When his lease with the building’s owners expires in March, the Owl & Turtle will be out, though not gone, Lerner hopes. Last month, he began a search for a new store location.

On Friday, Lerner said it is not his wish to leave. And what he finds ironic is that the family that established the business is the one showing him the door and bringing in a tenant who operates bookstores in other towns.

On Friday, Lerner – a psychologist and psychoanalyst who practices in Camden – said he feels like he and the business are being evicted.

Lerner said that in March, building owner Rebecca Conrad – who, with her late husband, started the business in 1970 – asked to meet with him in anticipation of renewing the lease.

Conrad and her sons presented a document that Lerner characterizes as an ultimatum, not a renewal offer.

Bill Conrad, who said he speaks for the family, refused to comment on the dispute Friday, other than to say there are two sides to the story.

Lerner said the Conrads wanted him to lease the entire building, instead of just the main floor and basement, and insisted on a 10-year minimum lease. The new lease also would remove a clause that gave Lerner the first right to buy the building.

The new lease would make Lerner responsible for all maintenance, repairs, property taxes, and utility bills, he said.

The Conrads gave him three weeks to respond, Lerner said.

“I was pretty upset,” he said, adding that he felt the family wanted him out and were indirectly pressuring him.

Lerner wrote to the family, seeking to negotiate a possible purchase of the building, or another lease arrangement.

“They never responded to that,” he said.

Finally, in early June, Lerner contacted Rebecca Conrad and learned that the family had been negotiating with Jeff Curtis, whose family operates Sherman’s Books in Bar Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Boothbay Harbor and Freeport.

Lerner said Bill Conrad wouldn’t confirm that he had a deal with Curtis, and said to Lerner: “But we don’t want to let you go yet.”

Lerner pressed the Conrads, and finally learned on July 1 that the building was leased to Curtis.

Lerner said Curtis had met with him several years ago to discuss buying the Owl & Turtle, but Lerner did not want to sell. He also said Curtis wrote to him in March, asking again to discuss a purchase.

Lerner said he believes that when he rebuffed Curtis, Curtis went to the building’s owners to strike a deal.

Contacted Friday, Curtis said he had heard rumors that the building was for sale, and called the Conrads, whom he has known for many years. He said he discussed purchasing the business from the Conrads in the late 1980s.

Curtis said he wishes Lerner well and thinks two bookstores can survive in Camden.

Lerner is upset with the Conrads.

“I think it was done with so little real concern and care for my staff, for me and for the community,” he said. “I wouldn’t do that to another person. That’s wrong.”