Kristian Knutsen (A Room of One's Own)
A Room of One's Own is planning to move to Atwood Avenue into the Threshold space.
When A Room of One’s Own exits downtown Madison after 46 years, it will move into the Threshold community space at 2717 Atwood Ave., says bookstore co-owner Gretchen Treu. It was announced earlier that the store would be moving to the Atwood area, but not the specific location.
Treu says that A Room of One’s Own can be “a great neighborhood bookstore. We have a strong personality, we have a strong social justice mission, and we’ll bring all of that with us. But the shop can also be a destination for nearby residents to walk to with their families and enjoy.”
The near east side has not had a dedicated general-interest bookstore since Star Books at Williamson Street and Brearly Street closed in 2007.
A Room of One’s Own, currently located at 315 W. Gorham St., is being displaced along with other businesses in that block by proposed redevelopment. It was founded as a feminist bookstore in 1975 and located at 317 W. Johnson St. It moved in 1997 to 307 W. Johnson and then again in 2011 to West Gorham Street.
There is “something special” about the current space and “we’re going to miss it a lot” says Treu. “I’ve had a few months to grieve.”
Treu and co-owner Wes Lukes would have liked to remain downtown, but both the rents and the probability of being displaced yet again were high. And appropriate spaces were scarce. (Lukes and Treu are owner-managers and Patrick Rothfuss is a silent owner in the business.)
The space on Atwood has a 20-year lease which “puts us in a strong position,” Treu says. “I did not want to set us up to be in the position [of needing to move] again.” The new location is also more affordable; Treu estimates that the same square footage downtown would be about three times as expensive.
The new space will be smaller: 4,300 square feet of floor space rather than 5,500 square feet. “We’re already reducing how many extra copies of books we have, and changing up the percentage mix of used books to new books; there will be more new books and fewer used books that just sit there for years and don’t sell,” says Treu, calling it “tighter curation.” The Gorham Street space, which began as Canterbury Booksellers in 1991, was twice as big as Room’s previous space on West Johnson Street, and because of that some sections are “bigger than we need them to be, because we have all this shelf space to fill up so we have a robust-looking bookstore.”
The new space has “a beautiful wood barrel ceiling, wonderful natural light, skylights, a garden in the back,” says Treu.
Co-owner Gretchen Treu in the current bookstore. The new Atwood location will be "a better, more secure long-term space from which to do what we do.”
Some reconfiguration of the space will be necessary. A space for readings will be in the rear and should fit about 100 persons, which will enable the bookstore to continue to host events for the Wisconsin Book Festival. Details on the buildout have not been finalized but the goal is for the space to be light-filled and cozy. There will be no cafe component, but Treu notes that The Victory is right across the street and that there are a lot of “great small businesses in the area” — including professional services and restaurants — so it will be easy for people to get a cup of coffee and “pop in to the bookstore. We’re excited to reach out and look into building partnerships with all these other businesses.”
Buildout will begin in April and Treu anticipates moving in May or June.
Treu is heartened by the store’s loyal customer base that has supported the business since it has been closed — in a physical sense (books can be mail-ordered) — for almost a year due to COVID-19. “We hope to continue to deserve people’s affection for us and loyalty as we move,” says Treu. “We’re going to be the same people with the same exciting books, we’ll just have a better, more secure long-term space from which to do what we do.”
