After more than 60 years in business, Spanish-language bookstore Librería Girón in Chicago, Ill., is closing permanently, CBS News reported.
Store owner Patricia Girón García, daughter of founders Julio and Ada Girón, will keep the business at 3547 W. 26th St. open until December 31. She told CBS that she decided to close the bookstore due to difficulties presented by the economy as well as the digital transition.
"I love books," Girón García said. "I'm always going to love books, but not as a business. I'm going to find myself."
She noted that when her parents founded the bookstore, "it was very hard to find Spanish books, magazines. So people enjoyed that. It reminded them of home." Librería Girón also carried plenty of educational materials and self help books, and it eventually grew to have nine locations and an online catalog.
"Since my mom was a teacher, she wanted to educate," Girón García recalled. "So she started buying books, ordering books from Spain, from Mexico, and little by little, we started having a lot of merchandise."
Girón García called the bookstore her "second home," pointing out that she is 58 years old and has been going to the bookstore since she was eight.
"Love your books, and learn to read and keep on reading," she told CBS. "Have the passion to keep on reading."