A Wisconsin-based chain of book stores, with several in northwestern Illinois, is going out of business. Wednesday Book World announced it will close all 45 of its stores in 6 states.
The list includes Book World in South Park Mall in Moline, plus Sterling, Galena, Peru, and Freeport in Illinois, and a store in West Burlington, Iowa.
Overall the closings will affect 300 employees, and about a dozen at the corporate office.
In a letter, senior vice president Mark Dupont says that while the chain had been able to weather the advent of e-books, in the past 12 months sales started plummeting and still continue to drop. And he blames the downturn on the national consumer shift towards e-commerce and away from large department stores.
The first Book World store was founded in 1976 in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
Book World says liquidation sales will begin Thursday in all 45 stores, and it expects all stores will be closed by January 15th.
