Webster Groves Bookshop, Webster Groves, Mo., which celebrated its 50th anniversary a year ago, will close at the end of August. On Friday, the bookstore posted on Facebook: "After 51 years of serving the community we are shuttering our doors. Thank you for letting us be a part of your lives."
The bookstore was founded in 1965 by Natalie Sheetz and Juliet Robinson. The Webster-Kirkwood Times noted that Ann Foy began working part time in the bookshop in the fall of 1985, and at the end of 1998, after Robinson--the last of the surviving owners--died, Foy and her husband, Bob, purchased the store. He died in 2003.
"Natalie and Julie created that store," said Foy. "We made small changes, but continued what they started.... The big stores and Amazon can't do what we do. We stand and visit with shoppers and make suggestions. We know what regular customers will want to read."
The Times also wrote: "For those of us who have been long-time neighbors, its closing will be a poignant loss."