Local News
Related Photos
-
Eric Williams
Discussion
Downtown bookstore closes after more than 40 years
Just one year after celebrating its 40th anniversary, two “Closed” signs now hang in the display windows of Lange’s News & Books. Effingham’s corner bookstore closed its doors Wednesday.
Paul Semple, who has owned the store for more than six years, said he closed the store due to a continued drop in sales.
“It’s a sad time to be honest. I believe the Effingham community will miss having the traditional bookstore,” said Semple. “We had a lot of customers who were in the store on a regular basis, and we had a very dedicated staff. Pat Rickelman managed the store when we first bought it and had been there over 23 years, and Andrea Volk managed it at the end.”
Semple said he tried to sell the business at first and even had a few serious offers, but the parties could not agree on terms.
Semple announced on the bookstore’s Web site, www.langesbooks.com, the store would be closing, and he would be selling many of the books. The Web site will shut down at the end of March.
They had more than 4,600 individual book titles when they began selling them. Semple said they had sold all but 400 books when they closed, and those books will be returned to a supplier in Chicago.
“I hate to see it go,” said former owner Paul Lange. “It’s a shame. It was the only place in town where you could buy a newspaper, but that’s the way it went.”
Paul Lange and George Rickelman opened the R & L Newsstand in the late1960s in the Heart Theatre building on Jefferson Avenue. Lange said that he was a plumber at the time and opened the bookstore on the side.
The store moved to its current location next to the Heart Theatre at 129 E. Jefferson Ave. in the early 1970s. After nearly seven years, Lange bought out Rickelman and changed the name of the bookstore to Lange’s News & Books.
Paul and Dorothy Lange and their three daughters worked very hard to keep the store open seven days a week, and the business soon gained a reputation for special orders and service. The only day the store closed was Christmas Day.
After the Langes’ children grew up, the couple sold the business to Kelly Tucker in 1982. Paul and Janice Semple bought it in 2002.
A few people were packing and carting books away from the store Thursday morning. The Semples will give up possession of the leased building March 31.
The building is now for rent. Semple said they had originally planned on relocating the business to a bigger building in the downtown area, but the change in customer needs has curtailed that thought.
Angie Faller can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 131 or angie.faller@
effinghamdailynews.com.
- Local News
-
-
A dream come true
The Early Learning Center in Effingham has two new additions to its playground this year, and it’s not shiny new slides or colorful jungle gyms.
-
T-town village donates to school programs
Teutopolis hasn’t had a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program for more than a decade, but the village still had a fund for donations that had been made to the program.
-
Alcohol sales stir up extra revenue
Since voters allowed liquor sales in Farina earlier this year, village officials and store owners have noticed a change — and it’s positive.
-
Police release 'person of interest' sketch in Schmitt murder investigation
Effingham police released a sketch Tuesday of a "person of interest" in the June murder of Effingham resident Jack Schmitt.
-
Elderly couple escapes burning house thanks to neighbor
An elderly Shumway couple was able to escape a house fire unharmed Sunday night thanks to a neighbor who alerted the fire department and came to the aid of the husband and wife.
-
Giving Back
In many ways, Autumn Worton is like many other 21-year-old women.
-
Making a Difference
Mack Myers of Kinmundy has lived with a hereditary neurological disorder his entire life, and he credits the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) for helping him cope with the disorder that’s affected him since 1947.
-
Area unemployment inches higher
Unemployment rates increased in nearly every area county last month, according to monthly statistics released this week by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
-
Local historians want to preserve, relocate bowstring bridge
The old Flensburg bridge is a rare glimpse into days gone by, though the modern-day resident has to use some imagination to see the bridge’s historical significance.
-
Drug checkpoint questionable
Motorists traveling southbound on Interstate 57 near Kinmundy Tuesday morning drove through a drug interdiction checkpoint — the first-ever in Marion County — even though the U.S. Supreme Court has taken a dim view of similar efforts.
- More Local News Headlines
-
