Unabridged Bookstore Celebrates 35 Years in Lakeview

Brick-and-mortar bookstores aren’t as common as they were during the last two decades of the 20th century, but one popular Lakeview shop is still kicking.

Unabridged Bookstore, at 3251 N. Broadway, is celebrating its 35th anniversary at the location this month by offering 10 percent discounts on every book in the store and hosting a party with treats on Dec. 12, according to a Chicago Reader feature.

The Reader tells the story of Ed Devereux, who opened the shop with two business partners in 1980, at first paying only $800 a month in rent.

“When you’re 27,” he said, “you don’t ever think you’re going to be 62. When you’re young, you’re fearless.”

Having been open since the Mike Bilandic years, amazingly, not much has changed at Unabridged.

“It’s a rock of stability,” writer Jonathan Eig, a longtime Lakeview resident, told the Reader. “It hasn’t changed much, which is rare for our neighborhood. It’s had the same window shelf.”

Through much competition through the last three-and-a-half decades, Unabridged has been...unabridged.

From The Reader:

“Unabridged has weathered some heavy competition throughout its history, starting with the discount chain Crown Books, which opened a location on Clark Street in the early 80s. Devereux realized he couldn’t afford to sell books nearly at cost the way Crown could, but he could provide another service: being a true neighborhood bookstore.”

more via the Chicago Reader