Stone Alley Books and Collectibles, the new and used bookstore in Galesburg, Ill., closed at the end of the year, the Register-Mail reported. Ben "Stone" Stomberg, who founded the store in 2009, told the paper that "traffic just completely stopped. You know it could happen, and hope it never does. You can handle slow, but the store was just empty."
Stone Alley shared a building with For the Win, a gaming and comic store, which has closed for a week but will reopen later in the month.
Stomberg said: "I'll miss the customers. There're comic book customers who have come in every week since day one and people who would hang around and talk about books." He added, "The outpouring of kindness since the announcement has made it hard to be bitter. It's been really nice."