Bookhaven in Fairmount closes after a nearly 40-year ‘labor of love’
Beloved used bookstore Bookhaven, located in Fairmount, has closed after almost 40 years in business and the building is for sale.
Bookhaven, a beloved used bookstore in Fairmount known for its sprawling selection and fluffy shop cats, has closed.
The news came this week, in the same way most of the largely offline shops’ news updates have over the years: No Instagram or Facebook post, just a printed sign on the door.
“It is with great regret that we announce that Bookhaven, after over 30 years, will not be re-opening,” the sign said. “We want to thank everyone who has enjoyed the store, and shared their stories (from books and life) for all the years we have been open. It has truly been a labor of love and one that greatly saddens us to be leaving.”
Husband-and-wife duo Rolf and Ricci Andeer purchased and opened the shop in 1987. Rolf Andeer worked for SEPTA for a decade while Ricci cared for their two children before they set out to do their own thing.
“We were both interested in this and having a business of our own in a way we found interesting. And we made it,” Rolf Andeer, 79, said Friday. “The store is run a certain way. I was a searcher. [Ricci] priced and sold. It was a two-person operation.”
The Andeers attributed the store’s closure to their declining health.
“My health failed,” Rolf Andeer said. “That made it impossible to continue.”
Rolf Andeer said he was recently diagnosed with a form of cancer that would require treatment, and his 77-year-old wife has also had medical concerns.
“I can’t run a store anymore,” he said. “But it’s OK. It’s not like I gave up as a teenager or something.”
Still, he admits, it feels strange. Just last week, Rolf Andeer purchased 150 books for the shop. On Saturday, he ran the store. Then he started collapsing and was hospitalized. A series of tests led to his diagnosis.
Bookhaven, which has earned praise over the years from local media for its floor-to-ceiling shelves of books and fair prices, has had a front-row seat to changes in Fairmount and within the bookstore industry over 38 years.
“When we first got there, we didn’t make a whole lot of money,” Rolf said. Later, the dot-com bubble and rise of online shopping caused a hit on sales. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a renewed interest in all things analog.
“We were thinking of quitting earlier, but it picked up,” he said. “People’s tastes changed again. You don’t know what the rest of the world is going to do.”
As word of the closure has trickled out over social media, tributes have poured in.
“I and countless others spent many joyful hours there,” one Facebook user wrote. “The end of such an amazing era,” said another.
For Megan Andeer, one of the couple’s children, the closure feels sad.
“My parents are so proud of the bookstore they built over the last 38 years,” she said. “A store I have worked at, had family dinners in, and the place that cemented my love of the printed word. A decision not made easily to close this chapter.”
The Andeers are listing the building for sale.
The shop cats, Emma (now Jellyfish in her new home) and Jane, have new caretaking arrangements and are safe and cozy, Megan Andeer confirmed.
As for the thousands of remaining books, that’s still to be determined. A giant community book sale may be in Bookhaven’s future, but it will be based off the building sale’s timeline.
Rolf Andeer is not concerned about pricing the books, though.
“I don’t need to make a profit off the books — that’s what the building sale is for," he said. “I just don’t want to throw them away. I’d rather pass them around.”