Clevo Books, the independent bookstore and publisher in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, will close permanently later this month, Cleveland.com reported.
Located at 1026 Euclid Ave., the bookstore emphasized women authors in translation and carried titles from Clevo Books and other publishers. Owner Cathryn Siegal-Bergman began selling books out of the Clevo Books office in 2021 before opening a storefront in 2022. In 2024, she moved the bookstore to its current home.
Siegal-Bergman attributed the closure to a number of factors, including changing political and economic environments, a lack of foot traffic, and other difficulties. "We really thought we could grow in this space, and we were on track to do that," she told Cleveland.com.
"Revenue was coming in at a solid clip in 2024," Siegal-Bergman continued. "In 2025, we had an election and a change in administration, and the policy that administration pushed really affected tourism in this city, as well as cities all across the country. Not being strict business people--not as strong as I thought I was--it caught me off guard, and I had no idea how to pivot."
Siegal-Bergman intends to close the bookstore by the end of June, and she hopes to sell as much of the store's inventory as possible before then. Looking further ahead, she floated the possibility of starting a nonprofit and even reopening as a bricks-and-mortar at some point in the future.