I received some devastating news yesterday when a friend posted the above image on Facebook: Daedalus Books Warehouse Outlet Store is going out of business.
It's still sinking in, and it's still hard to believe. Businesses close all the time, and we constantly deal with the loss of a favorite restaurant, or corner market, or major chain that we shop at all the time. It happens.
Daedalus Books is special, though. I was aware of it when we moved to the area, back in 2001. I passed it on Route 32 all the time, but I never stopped in to check it out. However, it was in 2004, shortly after my wonderful wife, Teresa, a bibliophile herself, passed away that I finally stopped in. I was in the depths of a stressful, depressed low, and I had left work early. It was hard then to make it through a full day of work, and I was constantly looking for distractions. So I drove over to Daedalus and was immediately swallowed up by the immense selection of books.
I browsed for almost 2 hours. The History section had so many titles I had never heard of. The Travel section had topics I had never considered. The selection of DVDs, and CDs, and even kid's books (for my baby girl), were incredible, and I eagerly devoured everything I saw. I had to get a basket to carry them all. And the prices! The books were all extremely discounted, and I easily found almost $100 worth of books, which would've cost more than twice that at any other retail book store.
I made almost weekly stops at Daedalus after that, and I told everyone who crossed my path to go and check them out. My mother became a regular, too, and while we liked checking out their website, it was always so much more fun to browse the selections at the store. My daughter and I made Daedalus a regular Saturday morning stop, and we never walked out without a book or ten. I found so many Christmas presents for family and friends over the years, and I picked up more books this past December than any other.
The news that they are closing knocked me sideways. I still can't believe it. And while it appears that the warehouse and online presence will continue, the fact that I will no longer have the store to escape to just depresses me to no end. When I shared the news with my family, my mother texted, "OH NO! OH NO! I am crying! A lot of the fun was strolling the store!" My daughter said, "What?!? No!!! I'm so sad!"
We intend on visiting often over the next month, and perhaps we, everyone who considers themselves a fan, a regular, a book person, a neighbor, a friend, can persuade them to change their minds. I just hate that this place, which has brought so much joy to me and my family, will no longer be a part of our lives.
Have a great weekend, everyone. And go check out https://www.daedalusbooks.com/!
I drove by the sign on I95 for years before I ventured in 2007 and became hooked. I loved the store so much that I worked at the call center. 01/29/18 was my last day
ReplyDeleteand it still hasn't sunk in. There will never be a bookstore like Daedalus.
The online presence was sold to the same company that does Signals, Wireless, Acorn and Bas Bleu catalogs. The store and wholesale side of the business are closing. A sad day for all of readers.
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