Closing of The Bookstore

Warwick - After eight years of operation, The Bookstore in downtown Warwick will be closing on Aug. 31. In a letter to the editor at The Warwick Advertiser, owner Michael McDermott wrote: “The Bookstore has long operated on a razor’s edge of sustainability; however, the simple reality is that too many people and organizations in Warwick too often choose to purchase books elsewhere. Whether with Amazon.com or Borders in the Middletown Galleria Mall or Wal-Mart, people every day make choices to purchase books from another outlet even though we are likely to have that book on the shelf or can order it very quickly. “Bookselling margins are too small for an independent bookstore to be viable without consistent local support and our resources have been exhausted. “My aspirations for this business were to be the best bookseller possible, to utilize the store as a vessel for positive change and to build community. I hope that over these past eight years each of these goals have been fulfilled to a large degree. “There are many challenges to operating a successful retail business in Warwick, but the one factor that is most damaging is the choice to go elsewhere for what is available locally. “As we go through the stages of closing The Bookstore, I encourage anyone holding a Bookstore gift certificate to please redeem it before Aug. 31. “Finally, to those people who have supported The Bookstore, who understand the value of an independent bookstore, who distinguish between value and price, who embraced our mission and helped sustain The Bookstore for eight years ... my gratitude is beyond words and I cherish the remarkable experience.”