Well loved Church Street new and used bookstore, Aardvark Books, will be calling it quits after 39 years at some point in the near future as the landlord is selling the building for potential development. Hoodline has the news via a tip about the real estate listing 227 Church Street, which is home only to the bookstore, is listed at $2.85 million, with the promise it will be "delivered vacant," and all development feasibility will have to be confirmed by the buyer.
The Castro neighborhood was once home to several bookstores, but this will now leave Dog Eared Books, which opened a new location in a long-ago bookstore's space on Castro Street last year, as the only bookshop in the area.
Aardvark Books store manager David L. confirms with Hoodline that he expects the store will close when a sale is complete, though there is no timeline for that and it could be that the contingencies about the site's development potential could hold up a deal for quite a while.
That means that lovers of this bookshop should pay it some visits in the coming weeks and months the store's longtime practice of buying used books may slow down if they don't need the extra inventory.
Also, the resident orange tabby cat named Owen, whom the manager admits is "more popular than any employee," will be needing a new home.
