There aren’t many retail businesses that actively define a community and directly contribute to a town’s identity.
In Oak Park, The Book Table was such a business. The news last week that Rachel Weaver and Jason Smith, wife-and-husband owners, had chosen to close the store later this year was like a thunderclap. The thoughtful, personal and insightful note that Smith and Weaver posted on social media announcing their decision helped all of us understand their motivations and their bittersweet choice.
They are rightly proud of what they built over 20 years on Lake Street in downtown Oak Park. Starting from a small storefront they grew Book Table into the most visible retail space on the street, a genuine anchor store in the defining tradition of Marshall Field’s. And they did it with two other larger and better established bookstores, Barbara’s and Borders, right alongside them.
From conversations and reporting over the past four years, and certainly reflected in their interview with the Journal this week, the COVID pandemic was a turning point for the owners. The series of decisions they made over two years — to close the store for a time, to keep their staff on payroll, to reopen only slowly with books being handed off to customers through the back door — were vexing.
In their note to customers they acknowledged “being bone tired” and needing a change. They also went out of their way to say it was not high property taxes or exorbitant rent that pushed them out. They lauded their landlord and the village for support they have received.
They made a personal choice about how they want to live the next portion of their lives, the sort of thought process so many people went through during and after COVID, which led to career shifts and heightened concerns over finding life balance.
Our thanks to Rachel and Jason for creating this personally crafted, fiercely independent bookstore just for Oak Park.