Vertigo Books, the only independent bookstore in College Park, will close at the end of next week, its owners said.
Slow sales had hurt the business over the last year, co-owner Bridget Warren said, as fewer people bought books, and those who did purchased them online.
“We have many loyal customers, just not enough of them,” Warren and her husband, Todd Stewart, wrote in an online announcement about the closing Friday, adding, “and our cloning experiments have not yielded satisfactory results.”
Vertigo first opened more than 17 years ago in Washington and moved to College Park in 2000, offering a wide variety of hard-to-find titles as an alternative to just best sellers, textbooks and Terp wear.
Customers said in addition to the selection of books, they appreciated Vertigo employees’ personal knowledge of their tastes and the ability to just browse around, an experience they said can’t be imitated online.
Others said they liked the idea of supporting a local business over an out-of-state competitor or a big-box chain store.
City officials lamented the loss of a business they said was an important part of College Park’s character as a college town.
“It’s a tragedy,” District 4 Councilwoman Mary Cook said. “I think it’s always a sad day when one of our locally owned businesses has to close.”
The business’s four employees – including Stewart – must find other employment. Warren already works a day job, she said.
Vertigo is selling its inventory of over 20,000 books at a 20 percent discount and will return any remaining books to their publishers, the owners said. The store will host a “wake and potluck” Saturday at 5 p.m.
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