WTTW's Chicago Tonight program featured a tribute to Bookman's Alley, the "Evanston mainstay" that owner Roger Carlson will soon be closing after three decades in business. Carlson cited declining sales and recent health issues as primary reasons for his decision. 
When he first opened, Carlson said his goal was to create a used bookstore that didn't have the "same atmosphere as a soup kitchen." To that end, "the decorations--the top hats, the model ships, the presidential busts--are almost as important as the books. Toy airplanes are perched atop bookshelves, across the hall from a 19th century printing press," Chicago Tonight noted.
"I was dressing the set, if you think of my shop as a presentation," he said. "There are many fine used bookshops, but they tend to be pretty much devoted to displaying the books."
Although he anticipates having more reading time once the store closes, he said that for now "the good-byes are taking up the time I would have spent reading."
