Smathers Library Bookstore will close Thursday after 13 years of business.
The bookstore officially announced its closing Monday with a sign posted outside Turlington Plaza. The bookstore has about 2,500 items, which include books, mini paperbacks, CDs, DVDs, posters and comic books, that are on sale for 10 or 25 cents. The sale will last until Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.
Michelle Elneil, the bookstore’s gifts program manager, said the bookstore was closing for library renovation.
“It’s sad, but we march on,” she said.
Elneil said the bookstore’s items were mostly donations from faculty. She said she thinks the profits from the sales will go into a general library fund. All books that are not sold or added to a collection in an existing library will most likely be donated to the Friends of the Library.
Psychology sophomore Shanique Yee and nutrition and pharmacy sophomore Jennifer Perez, both 19, have been cataloging books in the bookstore and helping customers since May 2012 and Fall 2011, respectively.
“It’s sad knowing that I’m not gonna come in and be around these books,” Perez said.
Yee said she’ll miss the bookstore’s regular customers.
“They always have funny stories,” she said.
Yee and Perez said the store made 137 sales Monday, surpassing the average 20 customers a day.
“It was like a stampede,” Yee said.
Contact Colleen Wright at cwright@alligator.org.
