After several years at the Capital Mall, Downtown Books II is closing its doors after today.
The closure had been announced on the store's social media earlier this month. Manager Beth Elliott said it's a result of "a perfect storm" of conditions.
"There's a lot of reasons," Elliott said.
The owners of the store, Cowley Distributing, are ready to retire, and the realities of operating a retail store have changed dramatically in the last couple of years. Operating a local bookstore was already somewhat difficult, but when the pandemic was added on, stores dealt with new closures and issues in supply chains, she said.
Downtown Books II opened in spring 2018 in the mall's C wing, after the book and toy portions of the previous Downtown Book & Toy Too, also located at the mall, were split into separate stores.
Being at the mall also restricted the hours the store could operate, Elliott said, noting expanded hours may have helped attract more customers.
Elliott noted there are some plans in the works that hopefully could be announced in the coming weeks.