Bloomington bookstore Caveat Emptor will close its doors this coming August.
The secondhand bookstore has been a staple in the Bloomington community since 1971, serving as a refuge for book lovers and intellectuals alike.
Climbing expenses and declining sales have led owner Janis Starcs to make the tough decision to leave the store behind after 45 years.
"I thought about moving to a cheaper location, but at 73 I decided that I didn't really want to move all those tons of books one more time," Starcs says.
With an inventory ranging from jazz CDs to books on women's studies and political science, Caveat Emptor has a little bit of everything.
"Serendipity is maybe one of the most useful ways to get an education because you don't know what you don't know, and you don't know what may interest you until you look around," Starcs says. "People are always making happy discoveries like that on the shelves and I'm always happy when I hear someone yell out in delight in some remote corner of the store when they've found something they've been looking for."
Ultimately, it's always been about the books, and Starcs hopes that Caveat Emptor will be remembered as a place of learning.
"I was not destined to be a professor, but I am serving an educational function doing what I am doing," Starcs says.
Starcs hopes to find someone to sell the business to.