The owners complained they no longer had the time—with marriage, kids, and life in general—and could no longer afford to operate a business with such slim margins, but when the time came to officially close its doors, none of them could bear to let the old bookstore go.
Ran Walker is the author of seventeen books, the most recent of which is Portable Black Magic: Tales of the Afro Strange. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University in Virginia.
Nice. I love old bookstores!
We went through that for years with our used and rare books store as our slim margins went negative. Finally my husband decided he could no longer keep pouring money into it, and we regretfully let it go. Thanks for the memory — i still miss our bookstore.