The Little Read Book, an independent bookstore that’s been in the Wauwatosa Village for four decades, will close July 18.
Owner Linda Burg told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she and Fred Burg, her co-owner and husband, have long talked about when the right time would be to close, and there’s still no right answer.
“Neither of us are sick, neither of us are tired of selling books,” she said. They are, however, ready to “not have responsibilities, and spend time with their eight grandchildren, who span in age from elementary school to college.
All inventory at the bookstore at 7603 W. State St. will be on sale beginning June 15 until the bookstore closes, the Village of Wauwatosa announced in a news release June 2.
Linda Burg first opened the shop in July 1985 south of the train tracks on Harwood Avenue in what was most recently Firefly Tosa’s kitchen. The bookstore relocated to its current location in 1989. In recent years, Fred Burg began helping with the store after he retired from social work.
Linda Burg has sold books to three generations of customers in families who continued to frequent the shop through the years, according to the release.
The shop closed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, “but we sold books out the side door, and people would come with their masks on,” Linda Burg said.
“The most I can wish for any independent bookstore is to have a customer base as loyal as ours has been,” she said.
Burg never wanted to open another location of The Little Read Book, despite multiple opportunities to do so.
“My kid couldn’t have jumped on his bike and come have a sandwich with me anywhere else,” Burg said in the release. “We’re just a local mom and pop store. We never wanted to be anything else.”
It’s not yet clear what the State Street building will become after the bookstore closes. National salad chain restaurant Sweetgreen had eyed the longtime bookstore’s lot for a new location in 2023, but is no longer interested in the space, according to a representative from the Village of Wauwatosa.
The Burgs sold the building to a new landlord a couple years back. Linda Burg said she’s not sure what will take over the space, but so far it doesn’t sound like any book sales will fill the void.
“Our incredible sadness is we have not found anybody that wants to put a bookstore in,” Linda Burg said. “We’ve almost wanted to give the bookstore to someone.”
The bookstore hours may vary, but it is typically open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call the bookstore at 414-774 2665 to check on hours before the July 18 closure.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Bridget Fogarty covers Brookfield, Wauwatosa and Elm Grove for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be contacted at bfogarty@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After 40 years in the Wauwatosa Village, The Little Read Book store will close in July
Reporting by Bridget Fogarty, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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