Innisfree Poetry Bookstore & Café, Boulder, Colo., closed its bricks-and-mortar location permanently on Sunday, the Boulder Daily Camera reported. The store will continue to operate online and will host virtual poetry readings and events.
Last week, store owners Brian Buckley and Kate Hunter tweeted, "When we opened as the third poetry bookstore in the United States in 2010, we were overwhelmed and deeply moved by the care of poets and coffee and tea lovers who came and came and came. Thank you for the bottom of our family hearts. We will never be able to thank everyone who made this decade-long dream possible, but we will try. Thank you. To every poet who ever read a line on our stage--thank you. We hope you all will continue to hold a dear place in your heart for poetry."
Acting manager Chloe Halvorson told the Daily Camera that the closure "ultimately came down to COVID pressures. We're on the Hill. We're so dependent on students."
The store was named after William Butler Yeats's poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" and moved into its most recent location in 2016. The store celebrated its 10th anniversary in January.