One Of Nation’s Oldest Black Bookstores Closing After 40 Years

Eso Won Books, one of the oldest and most popular Black-owned independent bookstores in Los Angeles

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Eso Won Books, one of the oldest and most popular Black-owned independent bookstores in Los Angeles, California founded by co-owners James Fugate and Tom Hamilton in the 1980s, has announced that it will be closing its physical store at the end of the year.

“We’ve been working at it a long time and at some point, I think people reach that point where that daily grind of coming into the store, even though we’re open a small amount of time, you want to end that,” Fugate told the Los Angeles Times.

Since the late 1980s, Eso Won Books has dedicated itself as a hub for the Black community to celebrate its culture through written works. They are known to house a wide array of books on anything related to Black history, even those that are rare to find.

The bookstore notably saw an increase in sales during the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Read more.

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