Volumes Bookcafe, Chicago, Ill., which has been in business in Wicker Park for almost 10 years, will close in January. Block Club Chicago reported that the store and its cafe, operated by sisters Rebecca George and Kimberly George, "was a staple of Wicker Park's independent bookstore scene, hosting book clubs, live events with authors and open mics, and regularly participating in the annual Indie Bookstore Day." They also ran a store for four years at 900 N. Michigan Ave. that closed in 2023.
In 2022, the owners moved the Wicker Park store a few blocks south to its current location, and "for the next few years, business was solid and growing.... But things changed last year when Barnes & Noble opened a store in the heart of the neighborhood," Block Club Chicago noted.
"I definitely blame it on Barnes & Noble, 100%, because that's been literally the trend since the moment they opened," said Rebecca George, adding that sales "have been down 20%, 30% since they opened." This fall has seen some of the shop's slowest sales days ever. "What we would normally consider a low day a year ago, we've blown out of the water as of like, what a low day can be."
The owners are now focused on paying back their investors and honoring a place that has been a center of community in Wicker Park. "I'm hopeful for the future, but also really devastated I won't be that daily part of so many people's reading lives and just their lives in general," she added. While they are preparing to wind things down, the holiday season at Volumes will still be "business as normal.... This holiday season, we want it to be our best holiday season ever, and make sure that everyone gets a chance to come and say goodbye."