All Inked Up Books and Hometown Memories, Brentwood, Calif., is closing by September 10, the Contra Costa Times reported.
Danelle Vance, who bought the store two years ago and once managed a Crown Books in Emeryville, said that the shop "can't compete with online" and that she can't continue to manage both the bookstore and "a growing screen printing operation." The store sells new, used and antique books and many gift items.
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Less than two years after opening, Ancestry Books, Minneapolis, Minn., is closing its bricks-and-mortar store on September 26, the store announced on Facebook. It will continue to host events and "in a couple months will have a new online store."
Owners Verna Wong and Chaun Webster cited difficulties with their landlord for the decision: being put on a month-to-month lease since June 1 and the landlord's firing of the management of the Lowry Café and closing it until it finds new management. They wrote: "Eddie Hutchins, who managed at the Lowry Cafe for three year, has been a huge supporter of Ancestry Books, and was also in negotiations with the owner to purchase the Lowry Cafe. We are not only displeased with this practice on the part of the owner, who we lease from, but we can no longer in good conscience continue with this relationship."
Ancestry Books is "a family-friendly bookstore offering reading material focused on authors of color, queer theory authors of color, children's books, urban planning, and other writers with unique voices," City Pages wrote.