After serving the Wayne State University community for 65 years, Marwil Bookstore announced that it will close up shop for good, Eli Hoelrer reports in The South End.
The shop is not accepting textbook orders for the winter 2014 semester, and owner Brian Kramer hopes to make a clean break by the end of the calendar year.
Marwil's is likely Detroit's oldest bookstore, and it one of its last independent outlets. In addition to textbooks, the store stocked best sellers, art books, a wide selection of magazines, and counterculture publications such as the Fifth Estate.
The decision has been in the works for a good long time, Kramer, who has run the shop for nearly 30 years, told Hoerler.
“The bottom dropped out last fall, and it’s been getting worse ever since. It’s time to move on,” he said. “I’d love to stay, but look around. Things have changed.”
Marwil was opened in 1948 by Milton and Lenore Marwil. Its original location was on Woodward, but in the early 1970s moved to its current location at Cass and Warren, Kramer said. His family bought it from the Marwils in 1983. It’s been a family operation as long as it’s been around.
Marwil Bookstore is a campus landmark – few students have not heard the name. If your parent is a WSU graduate, ask them what the name Marwil means to them. It saw the golden age of Motown, the civil rights movement and weathered the riots and their aftermath while many small businesses crumbled. After decades of service, the Internet was what finally brought Marwil down.
