Book World in Janesville, Wis., will close in March 2022 after 35 years in business. In a Facebook post, owner Rene Purnell noted: "It comes with a heavy heart to announce that Book World will be closing. We have been serving our community now for 35 years. We've grown very close to a lot of our customers, many of you have become very dear friends and we really appreciate all the support over the years! This will come as no surprise, but it has been very difficult trying to compete with Amazon. Mix this with an insane amount of shoplifting over the years, and all the complications Covid has put on stores and the strain it has put on the supply chain, it's just too much for a little locally owned bookstore to handle."
For fans of bookshop cat Oscar, Purnell added: "To Oscar's fan club: Oscar has been set up with a loving home, and he will be moving there by the end of next week. Be sure to stop in and give him some love before then!"
"It's been a struggle," Purnell told the Beloit Daily News. "You used to be able to tell people if a (special ordered) book would be here tomorrow. You still need to be able to tell customers that, but you simply can't now. The shippers don't know when they can get books to you. They don't have boxes to ship the books in. Between that and shortages on ink and manpower, I think worldwide it's just being chalked up as a 'book shortage'.... The manga and graphic novels just haven't come. They're not printing. Some shippers say they don't know if titles will show up at all in time for holiday sales, or if instead, it'll be more like the summer of 2022. We just don't know. How do you run a business that way?"
Longtime customers and local authors have started calling Purnell to wish her well as she winds down operations, the Daily News wrote, noting that many of the calls were tearful.
"We're super sad about all the regulars that have patronized us over the years who we've built personal relationships with," Purnell said. "That's kept us alive. We're all human beings with feelings. With our regulars, we've shared weddings, funerals, all kinds of social interactions. That's what really breaks my heart."