Following a successful crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $30,000, Semicolon Books in Chicago, Ill., will close temporarily to add a cafe, Block Club Chicago reported.
Owner Danielle Moore, who founded Semicolon in 2019, plans to close the nonprofit bookstore after hosting a block party on April 26, Independent Bookstore Day. She expects the store at 1355 W. Chicago Ave. to remain closed for a little under two months while the cafe, called Junction Cafe, is built, and she is eyeing Juneteenth as a reopening date.
In January, Moore announced that she would be closing both Semicolon locations permanently (at the time, she also had a location in downtown Chicago), but after an outpouring of support from community members and other independent booksellers in Chicago, Moore decided to keep the West Town location open, provided the store could raise enough money to add a cafe.
Moore launched the Kickstarter campaign in February with an initial goal of $25,000. By the time the campaign finished on March 16, it had brought in $32,346.
"We were able to raise the funds necessary to add a cafe to the space, which is very cool," Moore told Block Club. "And so we raised those funds, and we are now going to be able to stay open as a bookstore cafe. The community that we have built is irreplaceable, and we would not exist without them."