BookMonster, a new and used bookstore that operated in downtown Santa Monica, Calif., for around four years, permanently closed its storefront on April 3, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported. Though the physical store has closed, the online store is still open for business and customers can continue to buy and sell books, CDs and movies online.
From March 19 until the final day of business, all purchases were 50% off, and the BookMonster team encouraged customers and community members to vote for the store as the Most Loved Downtown establishment in a Santa Monica community poll, in order to "let everyone know there should be a bookstore downtown."
Founded as an online store in South Korea in 1999, BookMonster has opened 42 physical stores throughout Korea in the last 10 years. The Santa Monica store was the only bricks-and-mortar BookMonster location in the U.S.