Book Nook to close after 54 years of business
The digital online age has made it difficult for some brick and mortar businesses to stay afloat.
Since 1971, the Book Nook at 135 N. Main St. in Butler, has been supplying customers with the old fashioned spirit of in-person book shopping, but now the establishment is set to close its doors for good in coming weeks.
Erik Bell, manager at the store said the business has “a little bit of everything,” from romance novels, to history and Westerns; but now the business enters its last chapter as it plans to close shop after the last day in February.
“It was a multitude of things,” Bell said with regard to closing down. “It's no secret the book store business is not what it once was thanks to Amazon and so many magazines going online instead of print versions. Costs of rent goes up and sales go down, then you can't afford to keep on going.”
Bell said the business is owned by the Abranovic family from Kittanning and has been in the same location since it opened in the early 1970s.
The Abranovic family also owns another Book Nook location in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and a gift shop book store in Kittanning called Kittanning News.
Bell said as far as he knows, the Abranovics are planning to keep those locations open at this time.
Working at the store for 26 years, Bell has seen it all and he said he will miss helping the regular customers of the business and getting to see all the new books upon their release.
“They are very sad to see it go,” Bell said of the regular customers. “We were something of an institution here for over 50 years. I hate to see it go, but I hope people will remember we were always here for them.”
