Chicago bookstore that served immigrant community more than 50 years to close
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's the end of an era as a Little Village institution, a family-run bookstore that's operated for half a century, is closing its doors.
As the owners close this chapter, they spoke to CBS 2's Marybel Gonzalez about their history and community.
If there were ever to be a book written about Patricia Giron Garcia's life, much of it would be about her time spent at Libreria Giron in Little Village.
"I've been here since I was 8 years old. I'm 58," she said. "To me it's like my second home."
But the story about the bookstore along the busy 26th Street corridor started with her parents.
"My parents are from Guatemala," she said. "My dad was an electrician. My mom was a teacher."
They were immigrants who came to Chicago with a dream.
"Since my mom was a teacher, she wanted to educate. So she started buying books, ordering books from Spain, from Mexico, and little by little, we started having a lot of merchandise," Giron Garcia said.
In 1957, they took that inventory and turned it into one of the few bookstores of its kind at that time.
"It was very hard to find Spanish books, magazines," she said. "So people enjoyed that. It reminded them of home."
From one bookstore to nine of them, they became a resource to the immigrant community.
"It was a lot of English barriers," said Giron Garcia. "So that's again another idea. Let's bring dictionaries, let's bring books. We want people to be educated. That was her passion, for people to learn, to be somebody."
Through the years writers and journalists have given talks there.
They sold English learning and self help books even to this day. But like any good story, this one, too, has to come to an end.
"We're closing because technology has really eaten us up," she said. "People are in digital ...and it's not the same. Also, the economy."
One by one, her mother's other bookstores faced the same fate. It's a tough move for Patricia, and residents.
"She's a staple of the community," said one resident said. "So sad to see her go."
He added, "Everything is going digital, and it's one of the few spots where you used to come in and pick up a book."
But while this chapter closes for Giron Garcia, another one starts.
"I love books. I'm always going to love books, but not as a business," she said. "I'm going to find myself."
And she hopes her readers take a page from her book.
"Love your books, and learn to read and keep on reading," she said. "Have the passion to keep on reading."
It's just what her mom did.
"She gave to her community the love of reading, the love of education, and that's very important," she said.