1/30/2024 0 Comments Bookends and beginnings![]() ![]() Rogin told Evanston Now that, Barrett “made the decision to leave,” but all the other tenants such as the Alley Gallery framing shop, are “100% remaining.”īookends and Beginnings will remain in its present home through the critical holiday sales season, then pack up the books and head for that new beginning. The present Bookends building has been purchased by developer Steve Rogin, who plans to turn the old Varsity Theater across the alley into ground floor retail and 35 apartments upstairs, a project he said is moving forward.Ī rendering of a potential redevelopment of Bookman’s Alley. Beginnings And Endings Quotes Quotes tagged as 'beginnings-and-endings' Showing 1-30 of 81 When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense. In 2021, she filed a lawsuit against Amazon and five major publishers, hoping for class action status alleging unfair monopolistic price setting. Bagels to reopen Sept.The interior of the Bookends and Beginnings, in an image from the store’s Facebook page.īut Barrett also said that “As much fun as it’s been to be Evanston’s hidden gem …, in today’s retail environment, it’s an ongoing challenge to be as well hidden as that.”įor someplace hidden, however, Barrett has received national publicity as an independent bookstore owner who survived when larger booksellers were closing. “People have the power to use their dollars to support their downtowns. “It’s a vote, like any other choice you make,” Barrett said. We push a ‘shop local’ message during the holidays, and this year is more important than it ever has been.”Ĭoakley said, despite multiple recent store closures and competition with large-scale retailers, some Evanston businesses have survived - and even thrived - amid the pandemic because of community support.īut with cases rising across the country and a potential second shutdown on the distant horizon, Barrett said for Bookends & Beginnings, and many other local businesses, the choice to shop local may be the difference between a thriving Evanston downtown and a ghost town. “One of the bigger indicators will be around the holidays. “Any store that’s that offering of both of those things - an online presence and an in store or curbside pickup - those are the stores that are going to survive all of this,” Coakley said. ![]() As a result, she created a GoFundMe to make up for the lost income, and raised nearly $50,000, ensuring the store could stay open.Īnnie Coakley, the executive director of Downtown Evanston, said Bookends & Beginnings’ successful pivot to online retail, coupled with the clear community backing it receives, indicates that the store will be able to adapt to all the challenges brought by COVID-19. After social distancing regulations and emergency shutdown orders went into place in March, Barrett had to close down the bookstore to physical visitors.īetween the store’s closure and its reopening in July, Barrett said the store filled online orders, but the revenue from online orders didn’t reach the same level as in-person shopping. Close to Northwestern University, this unique spot is a booklovers dream. However, Bookends & Beginnings did not escape the pandemic unscathed. Located in Bookman’s Alley in the heart of downtown Evanston, Bookends & Beginnings is a cozy independent bookstore offering new and used books, unique gifts including an exclusive line of irresistible jewelry and literary happenings. “You go inside a chain store in Evanston and it looks just like the inside of that same chain store, anywhere else in America. “Once they come in, people usually love us because it is a cozy atmosphere and because I think we’ve all gotten used to these chain stores that basically all look alike,” Barrett said. Getting customers into the store is often the most difficult part, Barrett said, because visitors to her shop will often return more than once. As a result, Bookends & Beginnings is one of a handful of independent bookstores across Evanston that will look to fill the void left by the retail giant.īarrett said the new storefront will create more foot traffic for Bookends & Beginnings - something the alley location didn’t always provide. In May, the Evanston Barnes & Noble closed permanently, with plans to be replaced by a Northwestern Medicine facility. The new location will primarily house bestselling books, new releases and non-book merchandise, store owner Nina Barrett said. The store’s initial location was in an alley off Sherman Avenue, and a significant portion of Bookends and Beginnings’ merchandise will remain in that facility, located a short walk away from the new storefront. After six years in Evanston, independent bookstore Bookends & Beginnings announced an expansion to include a retail storefront at 1716 Sherman Ave.
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