MADISON, Wis. – After 70 years on State Street, the owner of Paul’s Book Store announced they’re getting ready to close their chapter of Madison history come February 2025. Customers say its legacy is one you’ll have to read to believe.
“It has a vibe that no other place has. It’s just the smell, the look,” customer Blu Ginko said. “Covers from publishers that don’t exist, that are just like a different time.”
And it is like squeezing through time to squeeze through the corners of the tall wooden bookshelves.
“Postcards, sort of array of things, fun things that we found inside of books and put up on the bookshelves,” Martha Askins said. “A lot of the pictures here are former employees, lots of UW students have come through here.”
The shelves are flagged with handwritten categories on each side: “WISCONSIN,” “NAUTICAL SEAFARING,” “CHINA,” “JOURNALISM,” “SPORTS,” and more.
And of course, beside them the variety of soft-cover, hardcover, leather-bound books, some looking new and others with pages stained and faded with time, also transport customers back.
Now, the thousands of titles have to go home with customers before February. “Well, we’re kind of just taking it day by day,” Askins said. “We’ve never done this before, we’re going to sell as many books as we can and then we’ll just see what happens.”
The “titular” Paul Askins now watches over the stacks of books Martha used to run through as a kid in a large black-and-white photo behind the front register.
Paul and his wife Carol opened the bookstore in 1954, before Martha was born. “I’m wondering now if it might be the oldest business in Madison,” she said.
It actually moved to several spots before settling at 670 State Street.
When Paul passed away in 1975, Carol took over. “And she really built the business and learned a lot as she went along,” Martha said.
Learned, and collected a lot more than just books. “We’ve got science, math, we have a good music section, our magazine collection, I think is really spectacular too,” Martha said.
Now customers are flipping through their own memories before heading to the register to hear “Thank you for shopping Paul’s Books!” – some for the last time.
“I’ve always known about Paul’s. So my mom, my aunts, my uncles all went to school here too, but it wasn’t until 2019 that I started shopping here,” UW-Madison alum Sophie LaRose said, visiting from Chicago. “I knew I just had to stop in to Paul’s one last time while it was still here.”
Hearing how big of a chapter Paul’s was in people’s personal stories has been a highlight for Martha.
“You know, I feel like I kind of knew that, but it is really gratifying,” she said. “Just as the kid of the owners, you know, it’s really meaningful.”
Working mostly from home now but still calling the shots, Martha said her mother has decided to retire and close the store.
“Yeah, ‘shelve it.’ Well, really, it’s a matter of time,” she said.
Like any good read, customers don’t want it to end.
“I was shocked. I was really, really upset to see that,” LaRose said.
“Whatever’s going on in my life, whatever I have just bugging me, I can always come here,” Ginko said. “I just feel calm, safe.”
But Paul’s story can’t be contained in two covers.
“I think of this as my mom and dad’s legacy and I’m just super proud of that,” Askins said.
COPYRIGHT 2024 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
This post was originally published on here
