OAK PARK, Ill, — The owners of a beloved bookstore in west suburban Oak Park are closing their doors after 20 years in business.

Customers who stepped inside The Book Table, in the 1000 block of Lake Street, on Tuesday were taking in the final pages of a unique journey.

“It’s just been woven into, I think, everything that we do as a community for a very long time,” customer Ellen Riggsbee said.

For more than two decades the bookstore has been a staple of the community.

This month store owners Jason Smith and Rachel Weaver made the difficult decision to close their store.

“It’s been, really, something that we’ve been thinking a lot about over the last few years since the pandemic. We’ve had a really hard time snapping out of the post-pandemic angst. You know, retail was so difficult during that time,” Weaver said.

The husband-and-wife duo said they had been overwhelmed with messages since making the announcement and are proud of the work they have accomplished.

“We started off as sort of the quirky store down the street we opened up a block and a half from a Borders, specifically to show there was something different than corporate book selling,” Smith said.

The store’s shelves are stacked with thousands and thousands of books. Covering every genre and subject.

They are known for having large poetry and art sections and customers said seeing it close is a real loss to the area.

‘Everything now is shifting towards, like, Amazon, buying online. And I think something is lost in that, like, there’s beauty in coming into a bookstore, opening a book up, the smell of it, the feel of it, the ambiance. It’s going to be lost,” customer Salvador Martinez said.

Customers who visited the shop on Tuesday also shared their appreciation to the owners for their years of service.

“Jason and Rachel have, you know, like I said, been just a regular couple of, you know, stand-out citizens here in Oak Park,” Riggsbee said.

As for what’s next, the owners say a vacation is likely on the horizon before they start their next chapter.

“It is sad, but, you know, I hope they move on to better things and they are happy and we are nothing but happy for them,” Riggsbee said.

The owners anticipate they will stay open through the end of November and are currently offering 10% off all books as the closure nears.

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