Better World Books, the company that "has donated 26.5 million books, raised $28.4 million for literacy and reused or recycled 320 million books," is closing its only physical retail store, located in in Goshen, Ind., to focus on e-commerce, the South Bend Tribune reported.
BWB was founded by Christopher Fuchs, Xavier Helgesen and Jeff Kurtzman as an online operation after they graduated from Notre Dame in 2001. They opened a bricks-and-mortar store about 10 years ago in downtown Goshen, and later moved to a larger space on South Main St.
"Through e-commerce we've been able to reach so many different people," said Michael Kappes, senior manager of customer experience and client services. While "people were coming and enjoying the store for sure," Kappes said the decision to go online-only "was really company direction."