Twin Cities' Oldest Independent Bookstore To Close
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It may not be a huge surprise, but the news is certainly sad to many.
The Twin Cities' oldest independent bookstore -- The Bookcase in Wayzata -- closes for good on Oct. 18.
Bob Stacke is a store regular and has been for years.
"It's independent, their displays are good, their choice of books," Stacke said.
He found out the bad news Tuesday on a shopping trip.
"It's really sad," he said.
Katie Wilson of Plymouth came in Tuesday as well.
"It's a personal place, it's a comfortable place and I'm feeling guilty for not having been here more often for them, you know, if they have to close," Wilson said.
Book advisor Calvin Conditt is losing his beloved job, as are six others.
"There's not always happy endings," Conditt said.
The owner, Charlie Leonard, says closing the store for good was inevitable.
"It's Amazon, it's Costco, it's the concept of the book as a commodity versus the book as a work of art," Leonard said.
Another reason that The Bookcase is closing doesn't have to do with books at all -- it's what's happening outside the store.
Leonard says the store has endured 10 years of local construction.
"We dealt with quite a bit of road closures last year," he said. "Just a challenge for people just to get here and that's kind of a kiss of death," he said.
Leonard -- who shopped at The Bookcase as a child, and bought the store as an adult -- says electronic books haven't helped things either.
"It's been clear for a while what was going to happen, and that there really wasn't going to be an ending that any of us wanted to see," Leonard said.
He says his next task is to sell all the books by Oct. 18. He's already started marking down prices.